What Can You Do?
by Kk88188
Summary: When the dead come back to life, and the world is thrown into chaos, what would you do? What can you do?
1. Chapter 1

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: Please review and I only own the OC.

Thank you to Darkangelfirekitsunefor being my beta and putting up with me ^-^

If there are any A/N in this chapter they will be marked with a * and the meaning behind it will be at the bottom of the chapter.

***There are going to be straight, gay, and lesbian pairings in this story***

***Don't like. Don't read***

 **Chapter 1/Intro**

 _I always thought it was funny how people talked about the end of the world. Most seemed to be leaning towards a natural disaster, caused by "God" or mankind, a food shortage, due to overpopulation, or even a comet hitting the Earth. Not once did anyone think that the dead would come back and start eating people?_

 _Even now, no one seems to know where it started or what's causing it, due to how quickly it spread. Some think this is the final judgment, and God is punishing everyone that is unworthy. Others just think it is similar to a cold. That the people are not dead, they just need time and medication._

 _Personally, I think it is a virus. That somehow after you die it restarts the brain, to an extent. I don't really know the technical mumbo jumbo, nor do I care. Right now, all I do know is that it is a fight or die world, and I refuse to let someone, or something, get my friends or me._

 _When it first appeared in Ohio* we were told to stay inside and to not leave until we had to. So that is where we stayed. After the first few days we realized that whatever this was, it was not going to end quickly. We started planning on what we wanted to do. We ended up going to one of those big chain stores that have everything and stocking up on items that everyone overlooked. We grabbed the seed packets, any medication that was left, all types of clothes, and personal items, manly the women kind. The plan was if worst came to pass, we would get out of town before the roads got blocked. Then, find someplace that we could secure, or already was._

 _When we were told to start heading towards the nearest school, that the army was there to keep us safe, and could provide us with food and shelter, one of our group members stated that it would be a risk. With everyone being in one location, all it would take was for someone to get infected for the whole thing to go up in smoke. Eventually, from what we heard, that happened. Someone was infected and during the night they died. They came back turned and started to bite a bunch of people. Before anyone realized what was happening most of the camp ended up becoming infected. The soldiers that were left killed all of them, and when they tried to get their next orders there was no answer._

 _It seemed that the government had crumbled and with people not knowing what to do, it became a free for all. Hell, on Earth. With no one to stop them, crimes were being committed everywhere. However, it wasn't until the hordes started moving towards the sound of chaos that people really started to die. The undead never seemed to be by themselves, there was always at least one with another, and while they weren't that fast, they were extremely quiet, capable of being on you before you knew it._

 _It was at this point we packed only the essential items and headed out. We were driving for a couple of weeks, looking for any place we could fortify, against the dead, and filling up when we could. We eventually run out of gas and started to walk._

 _While on the move we eventually found a map and decided to start making our way down south, towards Tennessee. After a month all power, running water, and sewage stopped working. It was now the dark ages again, and it seemed that the dead were the new top dogs. They never slept and it seemed that they did not need to eat to keep going. And, the only way to kill them completely was damage to the brain._

 _Now two months in, and almost out of food, the five of us realized that this was now our life. No one was going to come to help us, and if we wanted to see the next day, we had to learn how to fight to live. We had to be smart and there was no way we were the last ones alive, and if humanity was to continue the ones who were left would have to learn how to survive in this new world._

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

 **A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.  
** 1\. Nod

~~~~~~~~Ravenclaw~~~~~~~~


	2. Chapter 2

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: Please review and I only own the OC.

Again, thank you to Darkangelfirekitsune for being my beta and putting up with me ^-^

If there are any A/N in this chapter they will be marked with a * and the meaning behind it will be at the bottom of the chapter.

***There are going to be straight, gay, and lesbian pairings in this story***

***Don't like. Don't read***

 **MERRY CHRISTMAS  
** I hope you have a good one.

 **Chapter 2**

"Luna, time to get up," Harry said walking by where she was sleeping on the ground. Waking up, she reluctantly got up and started to stretch. Taking a look around she saw a stream downhill, that their little group had set up camp near. Picking up her bag, she turned to face Harry.

"I'm going to freshen up a bit," she said. Harry nodded his head, as she turned and started making her way toward the stream. Yesterday, before nightfall, they were unable to find a house or an abandoned building to crash in. So, their group ended up having to find an area of land that looked and could be kept safe, to set up camp. According to their self-appointed leader, they could not be too far from the road, just far enough that none of the dead would randomly wander into camp. Judging from what they passed so far, it looked like they would be living this way until they reach their destination. It was not ideal, and they would have to be careful not to attract any of the inferi* attention.

This new world came with new rules that you had to learn fast because there was no second chance. Some of the top rules were:

Don't move at night, unless you had to.

The inferi were attracted to lights and sounds. No one knew why but they were more active during the night, then during the day. And, when it was dark and quiet all it took was the glow of a fire or flashlight, along with any sound for them to be on you within a blink of an eye.

By now, the ones who had survived were starting to get used to this new way of life. It was one of the reasons that many could not get a good night's rest. Just the thought of what could happen, while they were defenseless, caused a lot of sleepless nights. It was established from the start that someone would always be on the lookout, a watcher. That way the group would not be caught unaware by anything.

Extra precautions and constant vigilance*.

They were starting to become second nature, to the remaining humans. It was a lesson that many had learned the hard way. It was because of this most groups depended on the watchers, but not many would volunteer, for the position, because of the stress put upon them. If the camp was attacked, the survivors would blame the watcher, and no one wanted blood on their hands.

Bit or scratched you were killed.

If you were bitten or scratched by one of them, then you were as good as dead. A fever would set in that would burn you from the inside out. The heat coming from your body felt like a furnace and once it was done so were you. It was as simple as that.

Watching Luna as she walked away Harry hated what the world had come to. It seemed that no matter what they did it was never good enough and someone was always dying due to those factors.

It had happened before. An inferius* made its way into camp so they had to run because someone was not doing their job. Maybe they were distracted. But one still got in and someone in the group was bitten or scratched and didn't tell anyone due to fear that they would be put down. Losing the ones in the attack was hard, but having to put another human down, as if they were a rabid animal, was even harder.

Since their small group had joined this one, it seems as if they were the only ones who were willing to get their hands dirty. Having only four, out of the ten, people doing the watches would not have been so bad, and they would have lived with that if they were not also having to do the supply runs and defending the group. It was not fair, especially with the way that Dave, the leader, gave away the rations without a thought, and with items becoming scarce, it meant more runs with more risks of someone getting turned. With most of the less populated stores already being raided that meant going into more densely populated areas. It spelled bad news for them.

Harry felt that if things didn't change soon, something would happen. He was not sure if the four of them should split off into their own, or if they should continue as they were and risk someone getting hurt or infected. He didn't want either option, especially if it meant that he would have to take on the role of a leader. It was one of the reasons he left England in the first place.

When the war was finally over, and Death Eaters needing to be captured, everyone expected him to step up and become an Auror. Then after a few years becoming the Head Auror, and then staying there or moving farther up in power. Everyone told him that he would do great and that this was the way his life was meant to be. But, not once did anyone think to ask him if that was what he wanted. Overnight he went from The-Boy-Who-Lived to The-Man-Who-Conquered who had this big and bright future of defending everyone against all the evil that would come their way.

While on the run from Voldemort, and his followers, Harry started to think that a life of fighting and chasing the bad guy was not what he wanted. He wanted to explore the world and be able to live his own life making his own decisions. Where whatever he chose to do only affected him. That he could just be plain old Harry, not Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, or The-Man-Who-Conquered. Well, that was what he wanted to do before he met her.

It was right after the final battle when he was thrown into the limelight without the chance to process what had happened let alone what he had done, that he decided he just needed to leave. Their side lost a lot of great people, and he felt that it was his fault. If he just had more time, then maybe there would not have been so many casualties. He did not want to make another mistake and add more lives to his ledger*. So, if the four of them left and someone died, would it be his fault?

"Harry, you need to rest before we head out. I'll take watch while you rest for a bit," said George coming up from behind him, causing him to jump a little. Looking up at George, he saw that the years have been good to him. He was still tall being around 5'9", but he was no longer slim and flat looking. His body now had lean muscle, and with his red hair now shoulder length and straighten he was good looking. He still had the same brown eyes that if you searched them you could still see the little bit of prankster spark hiding in them. He was currently wearing some ruff blue jeans with black tennis shoes, and a navy-blue t-shirt that he had tucked in. Tied around his waist was a green sweatshirt with the letter G in the middle.

"I'm fine," Harry said with a tired smile on his face.

"Besides, I was the first one to sleep last night," he continued.

"Don't lie Harrison. You got maybe an hour of sleep before you were up scouting. I may be old, but my eyesight works just fine," said a middle-aged black woman making her way toward them. She was about 5'6", medium build with short almost buzzed cut curly hair. She was wearing black pants with brown hiking boots; alongside a jean jacket with a green tank top under it. On her back was a bag that had seen better days and sporting some questionable stains.

"I slept for a while Arika," he said looking into her honey brown eyes. It was a color that he had never seen on a person before.

"Well darling, you will be no good to anyone dead on your feet. Sleep until our "fearless leader" can decide what to do," the newly named Arika said with laughter in her voice.

"I thought we were heading towards Atlanta?" Luna said in a questioning tone as she was making her way up the hill toward the group.

"That was the plan until someone said they "heard" it was overrun with the dead. Now he doesn't know if we should continue that way, or if we should head towards some military outpost," Arika said with a sigh.

"Wait, so someone in the group knew that Atlanta was a lost cause and waited until just now to say something?" Luna asked in confusion.

"That is what it looks like. Common sense says that there was no way they just "heard" it, but you know Dave," Arika said while shrugging her shoulders.

"Luna, can you go and listen in on what they are planning? I don't want to be blindsided with what Dave decides to do," Harry asked looking to Luna. Giving a positive nod, she started to walk into the woods, where the others had set up camp.

"Arika, can you go scout the surrounding area and make sure it's clear?"

"Ok," she said, getting up and walking down the hill towards the stream.

"George can you…"

"No. I already told you I will take watch, while you sleep," George said giving Harry a pointed look.

"As Arika said you did not sleep much last night, and I know for a fact that you have not been sleeping. This is not the war, and we are no longer children that you must lead and protect. You don't have to do everything by yourself this time around," he said, a kind smile on his face.

"We can take care of things while your resting. During that time, we can figure out what our next move will be. We might leave depending on what Dave decides to do. Honestly, I am willing to try our luck in Atlanta if he decides to head towards this military outpost. It just sounds like a cluster fuck waiting to happen."

"I don't need to sle-"

"Who do you think you are trying to lie to? I have known you for 21 years. I have seen and helped you through some of the darkest times in your life. I know I'm not Ron or Hermione, but I'm still your friend, and I will not let you work yourself to death. Take a break. Sleep. You do not have to lead these people. They are not your responsibility."

"Fine, but if I don't fall asleep right away then that will be the end of it. Ok?"

"Ok," said George with a knowing smirk on his face. Harry seeing it, rolled his eyes, before turning and walking towards his stuff he placed on the ground, last night. It was still untouched, from when he was sleeping on it. Walking over he grabbed his sack and placed it under his head, using it as a pillow, he lied down. Closing his eyes, he prepared to only have them closed for a couple of minutes; then get right back up. But lying down his body started to relax and feel heavy. That was when he knew he lost, and that George was not going to let him live this down. That was the last thought passing through his mind before it went blank.

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

 **A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.  
** 1\. Inferi- hell/dead (Latin)  
Type: Curse  
Pronunciation: In-Fa-ree **  
**Description: A corpse that has been reanimated by a dark wizard's curse that reanimates a human's body. **  
**Plural form of Inferius. **  
**What Harry's group calls the walkers

2\. Inferius- below, lower down (Latin)  
Type: Curse  
Pronunciation: In-Fa-Ree-ous  
Description: A corpse that has been reanimated by a dark wizard's curse that reanimates a human's body.  
Singular of inferi.  
What Harry's group calls the walkers.

3\. A nod towards Mad-Eye Moody

4\. Internet cookie for whoever gets the nod

~~~~~~~~Ravenclaw~~~~~~~~

 **Thanks:  
** Angel4EverLostInLife **  
**blaketiger **  
**DiLayla **  
**RainRaven **  
**LunarRoseFox **  
**Secret Fantasy Reader **  
**blue moon **  
**animefangirl0219 **  
**kaose **  
**wildwolfrose **  
**laraferreira  
917brat  
Seigi-da  
Siel 03  
Syla07  
mihel asyki akatsuki schizo  
AutoCon1  
mexahica228  
janiram

 **Review Answers:  
** laraferreira: (^-^)

AnimeNerdX: (I am happy that you are intrigued)


	3. Chapter 3

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: Please review and I only own the OC.

Again, thank you to Darkangelfirekitsune for being my beta and putting up with me ^-^

If there are any A/N in this chapter they will be marked with a * and the meaning behind it will be at the bottom of the chapter.

***There are going to be straight, gay, and lesbian pairings in this story***

***Don't like. Don't read***

 **Have a Happy and Safe New Year's**

 **Chapter 3**

 _Kneeling next to the stream washing his hands, Harry started to look around trying to remember how he got there. The last thing he recalled was laying down to rest._

 _"Do you think you're strong enough to save anyone Harry?" asked a voice coming from behind him. Standing up he turned to see who said it, but there was no one there._

 _"It's your fault your family is dead," it said again._

 _Looking around trying to find it he saw no one. He had no idea what was going on, all he had was a feeling that he needed to run, so he did. He didn't know where he was going, just the feeling that he needed to keep moving. As he was running, he started to search for something, anything, just somewhere he could stop to catch his breath, to come up with a plan. Looking around all he saw were trees. Trees and more trees until he noticed a break, up ahead. Running through them, he slowed to a stop and looked around confused._

 _'How did he end up in the courtyard of Hogwarts? And, why was someone just standing in the middle?' Not sure what was going on he started to cautiously make his way toward them._

 _"Hello. Are you ok? How did I get here?" Harry asked still slowly walking. The figured tilted their head to the side and released a small sinister laugh. Stopping, Harry gave them a look. He was getting ready to turn and walk away when the figure turned around. It was Voldemort, sporting a sinister grin causing Harry to take a couple of steps back._

 _"No. You're dead," Harry said in shock._

 _"Do you honestly think you can save anyone? You could not save your friends or family. What makes you think you can save anyone now? How many lost their lives due to you?" Voldemort asked, that grin never leaving his face._

 _Harry shook his head side-to-side and started to back away faster. This was just a dream. This had to be a dream. Voldemort was dead. There was no way this could be real._

 _"Harry? Why?" he heard coming from behind him. Turning, so he could keep an eye on Voldemort, and see who the new voice belonged to. It was when he saw the small frame twitching, that he took in a deep breath._

 _"I thought you were the savior. I looked up to you. How could you let me die? Why didn't you save me?" Colin continued to ask, his body flickering in and out of existence, along with the twitching, as if he was still under the Cruciatus Curse*._

 _"I'm sorry. I did not mean for yo-"_

 _"Do you know what Fenrir did to me Harry?" a female voice asked. Moving his head to look to Colin's right side, Lavender Brown was lying on the ground. There was blood on her face and neck, from the missing chunk of her shoulder. It looked as if it was torn out by an animal._

 _Walking backward Harry was in shock. It was when she started to drag her body towards him that he saw that it was even worse. Her legs were at odd angles, with the bones sticking out through the flesh, her fingernails were gone, as blood was seeping out of the nail beds. With horror on his face, Harry started to back away even faster._

 _"No. This is a dream," he whispered to himself._

 _"This has to be a dream," he repeated raising his hands to cover his ears and attempt to block out their voices, while shaking his head side to side, taking in deep breaths._

 _"This IS a dream," he said louder, lowering his hands, ready to pinch himself awake. Just as he was about to do it, a hand landed on his shoulder. It made him stop and turn to look at it. He saw that the nails were red and neat._

 _"Are you sure Harry?" a female voice asked from behind. Turning to face the voice he saw strands of light brown hair flowing, then everything went black. Looking around he could feel someone shaking him and saying his name. Turning towards the sound, an inferius* was lunging towards him. Jumping back, he reached for his knife._

"WH-?" Harry started to yell, but a hand was placed over his mouth. With still being half asleep, his eyes were searching trying to find the inferius. Taking in his surroundings he saw George in front of him. Feeling relieved that it was just a nightmare.

"What is going on?" Harry asked again, but it came out muffled, with George's hand still over his mouth. Looking him in his eyes he raised an eyebrow in question.

"Don't talk, just listen," George whispered frantically.

"An inferius was walking by the stream. I'm going to go tell the others to start packing. This area's no longer safe, we have to move now!" he whispered, worry slipping into his tone. It was when Harry's mind caught up with what was said he quickly got up and shoved the blanket he was sleeping on into his sack. Slinging it onto his back Harry nodded his head towards the woods, where the rest of the group was staying; in a clearing, they had found. George, with worry in his eyes, clapped his left hand onto Harry's right shoulder, squeezing it.

Nodding his head in understanding, George turned and ran into the woods, leaving Harry on the watch. Shaking off the last little bit of sleep he started to wonder why was an inferius so far away from any town or city? It was one of the reasons why they set up camp here. They were far enough away from the road that none should have wondered this far into the woods without something drawling their attention. There was always a slim chance one might, but something just didn't feel right.

As far as he knew inferius don't move far from where they turn. They only move when something drawls their attention, and even after a while, if it was not continuous, they would start to slow down and stop. They were more active at night, with moving around in small circles, but being out in the wilderness with only animal noises, and being midday, it made no sense. There was no stray light to attract them or loud noises, so why was one this far in the woods?

The closest town, from what he could remember, was about a day's walk. It was why they had not made their way to it. There was also a chance of running into a horde*, something they could not afford to do, and according to Dave, would just add extra miles to an already long journey. So, Dave decided that they would continue with the course already planned.

Harry shook his head and reached towards his belt. Unsnapping the top of his sheath he removed his knife. He could worry about that later, right now he had a job to do. Starting to make his way towards a small cliff that looked down into the ravine, he saw some of the trees shaking. He was getting ready to go on the defense when Arika ran out of them. She was on the opposite side of the river and in a hurry to get back to camp. It was apparent why when not long after, three inferi came out behind her. Changing course, Harry started to jog down the hill being careful not to fall. When the ground became level, he picked up his pace, turning his jog into a run.

Arika seeing movement out of the corner of her eye turned to see Harry running towards her. Holding out her right hand, she showed that she did not have a weapon. Noticing the gesture, he unclipped his second knife; tossing it to her. With the item safely in her hand, she pulled the blade out of its sheath, letting it fall to the ground. Once it was free, she turned her body, pivoting on her left foot, she swung her arm up, stabbing the knife into the side of the inferius head. It fell to the ground dead, as she pulled the knife free. Turning towards the other one gunning for her flesh, she started to run towards it.

Once Harry saw that Arika was good he continued to make his way to the last inferius. While running he raised the knife and brought it down, lodging it the inferius' upper forehead. When it went lax, he pulled the blade out and turned to check on Arika. What he saw made his blood run cold. It somehow had gotten her to the ground and was on top of her. Its hands clawing at her shirt, with its snapping jaws trying to take a bite. The only thing stopping it from completing its task was her left hand on its throat.

She was struggling to kill it. With the way it was on top of her, its shoulder kept getting in the way. She could not get a good angle without moving her left hand. Harry coming in from the right side; knife held aloft*, he brought it down, piercing the top of its skull, killing it. When the body went lax, Arika pushed it off letting it fall to the side.

Turning over, she knelt on the ground, her chest heaving up and down rapidly, trying to catch her breath.

"Are you ok?" Harry asked, hunched over himself, little huffs of air coming from his mouth.

"Yea," she said shakily.

"What happened?" he continued. Standing back up, he held out his hand for her to grab. Taking his hand, they gripped each other's tightly and he pulled her up. Once she was standing and stable, he let go of her hand and started looking around the area. Making sure there were no more unexpected visitors.

"I was on my way back to camp, after making the rounds, when one ambushed me. I killed it but more started to come. One of them grabbed ahold of me, though I was able to break free, I ended up dropping my knife. I tried picking it up, but it was no use. They just kept coming, so I ran. Figured, one of you guys could help. Where are the others?" she asked looking up the hill and seeing no one there.

"How many where there?"

"I counted six, before running into the woods. I lost count after that. We must leave. Between the one I killed and these three, there are still at least three, if not more, that could make an appearance at any moment." Nodding his head ok, Harry started to walk back towards the hill.

"George said he saw one walking by the stream not that long ago and ran to tell the others that we have to leave. We need to head to the clearing."

Arika gave Harry a nod and started to make her way up the hill, with Harry standing on guard below, waiting until she was safely at the top. Once she was, they switch roles. After he was up, they started to run into the woods, hoping to find the remaining members of their group safe.

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

 **A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.  
** 1\. Crucio- I torture (Latin) **  
**Type: Cruciatus Curse, Unforgivable Curses **  
**Pronunciation: KROO-shea-oh **  
**Description: Inflicts intense pain on the recipient of the curse; the pain is described as having hot knives being driven into the victim. It cannot be cast successfully by a person who is doing so out of pure spite or anger; one must feel a true desire to cause the victim pain.

~~~~~~~~Ravenclaw~~~~~~~~

 **Thanks:**  
Beertjes  
Ben1987  
Futago no Akuma Shimai  
Hanyouprincess3  
Leaf-Dinsul  
Birdy1770  
tracker451  
Dark Neko 4000 **  
**Osymontana **  
**becausewhynot365 **  
**christoa **  
**griffincub **  
**niesha-16 **  
**willboon **  
**bellawardgurl **  
**11 **  
**CodyAHM **  
**GoldThestera22095 **  
**hyper kitten **  
**sweetkitty **  
**tamashiyuki  
EnixSkye  
LittleMoonlightLover  
atw2162001

 **Review Answers:**  
tamaskiyuki: (Thank You.)

Guest: (I am still working on the pairings, but there will be straight, gay, and lesbian pairings in this story just a heads up.)


	4. Chapter 4

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: Please review and I only own the OC.

Again, thank you to Darkangelfirekitsune for being my beta and putting up with me ^-^

If there are any A/N in this chapter they will be marked with a * and the meaning behind it will be at the bottom of the chapter.

***There are going to be straight, gay, and lesbian pairings in this story***

***Don't like. Don't read***

 **Chapter 4**

Walking through the woods, Harry was preparing himself. He was hoping that no inferius* had wandered into the area. With Arika behind him, watching his back, they continued to make their way towards camp. Walking out of the woods and into the clearing, where the rest of the group was supposed to be, they saw nothing but trash. No signs of a fight, no dead bodies, just trash littered around.

"I'll look to see if they are up ahead," Arika said nodding at the break in the trees.

"Ok," Harry said as she started jogging away. They were both hoping she would see someone or something that would give her a clue on where the others were. Harry was left standing in the middle of camp shaking his head. He had a gut feeling that Dave was a coward, but to just leave them behind. How does someone do that, and still have a clear conscience at the end of the day?

Taking in a deep breath he slowly let it out. Reaching towards his left forearm, he unclipped the top of his protective pouch, that held his wand. It was warded so no muggle could see or feel it. Pulling it out he pointed it at the ground and said, "Appare Vestigium*," looking around for any footprints that would show. A plethora* of footprints showed up in different colors showing how old they were, but what caught his attention was the ones heading in the same direction, towards the road. From the light shimmering colors of all the different footprints, they could not be that old. Looking at them a little closer he could see that something was not right. He just could not figure out what. Deciding to worry about it later he canceled the spell and ran towards Arika.

"Arika," he said grabbing her attention.

"I know which way they went," he said as he caught up to her. Hearing Harry she started to turn when they heard the sound of a gun going off. They both stopped and looked in the direction it came from. Realizing what it meant their eyes went wide and they took off running towards the sound. It took them a couple of minutes, but when they reached the edge of the woods, they slowed down to a walk.

Looking out to the road, Harry's eyes ended up locking onto the horde of ten inferi, with more coming, surrounding a bus. On top and toward the front was Dave with his gun out, trying to shoot the inferi. The others were standing behind him looking scared. What was most concerning to Harry was that Dave did not seem to care that the sound was just drawling more inferi out from the woods.

Taking the situation in, Harry saw that if something did not happen soon then there was a chance that the group was going to die. That they would be unable to save anyone. With that thought, he started to plan on what to do while more inferius kept adding themselves to the already growing horde. Looking at Arika, he saw fear in her eyes. He did not know if it was due to how many inferi were now out there or the situation, all he knew was that he was hoping she could still be helpful.

"Are you still going to be able to help me?" he asked. She took her eyes off of the bus to spare him a look before turning back towards the horde.

"If we can get to the bus, we can help them. Dave is drawing most of them to his side so if we can get to the other side, we would only have to kill the ones in our way," he continued. Arika turned her head and looked into Harry's emerald green eyes. Taking in a deep breath, she slowly let it out before giving him a little nod ok.

Turning, they started to navigate their way through the cars. Trying to be quick and quiet so that they would remain unseen by both the group and the inferi. With the inferi, it was the logical explanation of why they didn't want to be seen. With the group, it was the fear of being yelling for if they were spotted and drawling the inferi towards them. Either situation was not ideal. While making their way through the cars, they could hear Dave yelling. Giving him a moment's glance, they picked up their pace.

"SOMEONE DO SOMETHING," he yelled looking around frantically, eyes crazy. He was starting to look like a caged animal. Seeing that no one was getting ready to do anything, he grabbed the first person within reach, and even with her struggling, trying to get away, he threw her off the bus and into the middle of the horde. Her first screams were ones of fear. Then they turned into horror, and then finally the screams from her mouth were ones of pain, as the horde started tearing into her like a child tearing into the wrapping on their Christmas presents.

"SOMEONE DO SOMETHING NOW OR ANOTHER ONE IS GOING TO JOIN HER. I'M NOT DYING BY ONE OF THOSE THINGS!" He screamed pointing the gun at the remaining group. Luna looking at the people in front of her, she could tell that they were unable to move due to being frozen in fear. Seeing no other way, she starts making her way forward; hands up in surrender.

"May I take a look around to see where we stand please?" She asked keeping her voice soft and her head bowed. Dave, looking her over gave her a nod signaling that it was ok while lowering his gun. Seeing this, she slowly started making her way towards his side. Once there she peered over to see the horde now partially surrounding them. With a quick count, she saw that there were twenty and counting.

She was wondering where they were coming from. As far as she knew there were no large towns or cities nearby, so why were there so many? Shaking her head, she went back to try and find a way for them to get off the bus. While looking around her eyes landed on Dawn, the young woman that was thrown, her dead eyes staring straight into hers. Closing her eyes, Luna gave Dawn a moment of silence before opening them and continuing the task at hand.

She realized that if they did not get down soon, they would all die. She didn't know if Dave or the inferi would be the cause, but it was not looking good either way. Looking out at the cars she saw movement that no inferius could make. Taking a closer look, she saw Arika moving in between the cars. Turning her sight further ahead she saw Harry. Looking in the direction they were heading, she could see that they were making their way to the other side of the bus. A light bulb went off in her head as she realized what Harry was planning.

"We need to get them away from the bus. I have some rocks in my bag. If I grab them, I can throw them at a car and set off its alarm," she said turning to Dave. Looking in her eyes, Dave turned to look at their surroundings as if searching for something. Turning back to look at her, he gave her a suspicious look.

"How did you come up with this plan?" he asked not taking his eyes off of her.

"There's a silver car in the middle with a red-light flashing. That means the alarm is set, right?" she asked in confusion hoping that she wasn't wrong. No longer sure, she raised her head to look into Dave's steel-blue eyes, it was at this point that their gaze locked.

"Do you think I'm stupid? You just want them all to come running here. I know what you are trying to do, and it's not going to work. First George and now you. Trying to get rid of me so Harrison can take over. Go stand with the rest of them before you end up like Dawn," he said with an all-knowing smirk on his face, lifting his gun and pointing it at her.

Slowly she started to stand, her hands held up in surrender when the next thing she knew she was eye level with the top of the bus. Trying to get her bearings, she could feel the damage done to the left side of her face, it felt like it was on fire. Eyesight blurry, she started putting the pieces together. He must have changed his mind because he had pistol-whipped her, and that change meant that he was going to kill her. She tried to get back on her feet, but it was made difficult by her blurry vision. She couldn't do much until it focused, Dave used that to his advantage, yanking her up by her hair.

"WHO DO YOU THINK I AM? I'M THE LEADER AND I WILL SURVIVE NO MATTER WHAT!" Dave yelled in Luna's face. Raising his left hand, he pressed the gun right between her eyes.

"NO ONE IS GOING TO KILL ME. Not YOU. Not HARRISON. Not even the FUCKING DEAD and to prove my…," he was saying when suddenly the bus jerked to the right making him loosen his grip on her hair. Feeling the pressure lessen; she got her footing and slammed her head into Dave's nose, freeing herself the rest of the way. It didn't help with her eye-sight or the headache that was already forming, but if there was a chance that she was going to die then she was going to make him regret thinking she was weak.

"YOU BITCH!" he yelled like a battle cry, lifting his head to look at her, blood running down his face. He started to lift the gun, finger on the trigger, when she punched him in the stomach a couple of times, causing him to hunch over in pain. Luna seeing an opening lunged to grab the gun, but feeling her hands over the top of his, Dave started a struggle for control. During this, the bus jerked again, causing them to lose their footing and the gun to be thrown over the side.

"LOOK WHAT YOU DID!" he yelled punching Luna on the same injury he caused her earlier. Seeing the hit coming this time, she turned with it. Falling on her back she still went down, but not as hard, and once flat on her back, she brought her right leg up in a kick and nailed him right in his jewels. A high pitch scream came tearing from his throat as he grabbed them and fell to his knees.

She was getting ready to kick him off the bus when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. Whipping her head around she raised her arm ready to attack when her pale silvery eyes, locked with emerald green ones. Once she knew she was safe, all the fight left her. Pain and relief flooded her body which went lax as she lost consciousness. Catching her before she fell, Harry lifted her in a bridal carry, before turning to glare at Dave.

"You're lucky that I refuse to kill another living human. If you EVER think about putting your hands on or threatening one of my friends again, I promise you I will make you the exception," he said his voice full of steel while glaring into Dave's eyes. He was unable to explain why, but Dave knew that Harrison meant every word and more. Something in his voice made him freeze in fear. Slowly getting to his feet, he puffed out his chest and tried to glare the shorter man into submission.

"I AM THE L-"

"I don't care that you are the leader," Harry said cutting him off.

"For the last time, I did not want to be, but I am taking over now because you are a threat," he said turning his back on Dave, showing that he did not fear him. Walking to the other side of the bus he lowered Luna down to Arika. Turning to Dave he gave him one more look before climbing off of the bus.

Looking around, Dave saw that he was the only one still on top and rushed to the side. Glancing over he could see that they had opened one of the windows and was using it as a step to climb up and down. Turning his body, he started lowering himself down, putting his foot in the open window. Turning his head, he saw that the group was slowly making their way back towards the woods and started freaking out.

"DON'T LEAVE…" he started to yell when something grabbed a hold of his shirt and pulled on it, making him lose his balance and fall backward. Horror started to take over, thinking that one of the dead had grabbed him. When he was lying on the ground, he looked up and saw that it was Harrison, a knife in his hand and the anger still in his eyes. He was keeping watch making sure no dead were making their way towards them.

When an inferius started walking around the bus, Harrison went up and killed it with his knife, stabbing it right in the head. As it was falling to the ground lifeless, he turned and gave Dave another look, before walking back towards the cars. As he was making his way through them, towards the woods, Dave jumped to his feet and started following. Once they were safe, Harry was going to figure out what had led to this day becoming a complete disaster.

Looking behind, he saw that Dave was unable to keep up. Giving another huff he slowed down a little. He knew Dave was on the old side, with graying hair and some wrinkles on his face, but he was still slim and looked fit. Given the circumstance, he thought that Dave would move just a little bit faster. In reality, he just wanted to leave him behind, but he wanted all of his questions answered.

When they finally caught up with the group Harry nodded his head and started to walk into the woods, everyone followed behind him. They could not stand out in the open nor be that close to the road anymore. It was overrun with inferi and they could no longer travel on it. He was also worried about what would happen after they lost interest in the bus. Would they go back to standing still or would they start to wander around and if so, in which direction? He had a lot more questions than answers, but he had more imported things to see to first.

After making their way further into the woods then they did the previous night, Arika started to walk faster to catch up with Harry and gave him a look.

"Can we stop for a bit? I'm tired from carrying Luna and the other members are going to crash soon," she said motioning back towards the rest. Stopping, Harry turned and gave everyone a good hard look. He could see that they were not even going to make it another minute. With a tired sigh and his shoulders slouching down, he nodded his head. Turning towards the group he said, "We are going to rest here."

The group all dropped their bags and sacks and sat down. Some with their head in their hands and others were just staring off into space. One of the girls, Tara, was sitting by a tree and it looked as if she was silently crying. Harry turning to Arika, helped her sit Luna down so she was leaning against a tree. Looking her over Harry was worried. He was going to have to check her with spells to make sure she had no life-threating injuries. Just how was the question.

"Where is George?" he asked while kneeling cleaning up the wounds on Luna, the best he could, with an old cloth he grabbed from his sack. When no one said anything, he stopped and looked at the others.

"Where is he?" Harry asked again anger filling his voice. Again, no one said anything and refused to look at him. Standing up he was getting ready to move towards Dave when Tara spoke up.

"He came to us and said that one of the dead was by the stream. That we needed to leave. Dave said that there was no way one would be this far from the road. They started to argue when one came into camp. George turned to fight it, and Dave told us to run for the road. We were scared, so we ran. We left George to deal with it by himself. I am sorry. I am so very sorry," she said finishing before breaking down and crying harder. Harry was looking at her in shock then at the others in disbelief.

"Stay here. I am going to find him. If you are gone when we get back, then you are on your own. I am not going to help or look for you," he said in an authoritative tone.

"You are not the leader," Dave said standing to his feet. His voice was laced with fear and tiredness. You could tell that he did not have much of anything left in him.

"I said that I am right now. You killed one of your members in a fit of panic and threaten to kill the others. When one stepped up to help you, you thought she was trying to take power away from you and planned on killing her. Let alone you left three others behind to save yourself. A leader leads and protects. Their job is to make sure that the people they are leading make it out alive. A real leader would be willing to walk towards their death if it meant that everyone else got to live. You are no leader. You are a coward who had power. I will no longer stand by and watch you risk these people's lives. If you want to be a leader then go. Leave and find a new group because, after the bus incident, I don't think anyone is going to go with you," Harry said walking right up to Dave, anger burning in his eyes. Dave turned to look at the other members of the group, saw that Harrison was right.

No one was going to go with him, and it was all Harrison's fault. Burning with fury Dave went to punch him, but Harrison grabbed his arm and twisting his body he through Dave over his shoulder onto the ground. It knocked the air out of his lungs.

"I'm not going to fight you. Leave," Harry said grabbing the bag that Dave kept all of the supplies in. When he started to go through it, he saw that there was nothing.

"Where are the supplies? We just made a run a couple of days ago. We grabbed enough food and items to last until we got to Atlanta. Where is everything?" Harry asked emptying the bag onto the ground in front of everyone. When it was empty, he threw the bag at Dave.

"It's all gone. I ate everything. The medication I got rid of. We didn't need it. If you are hurt, then you will heal on your own, or we leave you behind. It is a dog eat dog world and it is every man for himself. So, what are you going to do now Harrison?" Dave asked getting back to his feet with a satisfying smirk on his face.

"I am going to live and so is every one that decides to stay with me. Unlike you, I care more about them than myself. Now leave before I kill you," Harry said standing up tall and staring right into Dave's eyes, unmoving. Dave might have had height being 5'9" and Harry only being 5'5", but that was all. The war had made sure that Harry had a lean muscular body between running and not eating, what little fat he had, had turned into muscle. Even after the war, he kept his body in shape.

Dave realized that he was on his own he knelt and started to shove everything into his bag. Once he was finished, he stood back up glaring at everyone and walked into the woods. He vowed to get his revenge on Harrison the next time they met.

Once Dave was out of sight Harry turned to look at the remaining members. He was the leader now. It didn't matter that he didn't want it, he was, and he did not regret his decision. Dave had to leave, and he had hoped it would not come down to it, but it did. Letting out a breath Harry turned to the others.

"Bryan. Tara, can you please check on Luna and keep an eye on her. Arika can you watch the camp. I am going to go see if I can find George. I will be back right before dark. If you guys have to move, go back towards the stream and I will meet you there. Be safe," he said before turning and running back towards the clearing. He was hoping to get another clue on where George was.

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

 **A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.  
** 1\. Appare Vestigium- it was clear footprints (Latin)  
Type: Charm  
Pronunciation: app-PAH-ray vest-EE-gee-um  
Description: This spell is used to reveal footprints and track marks.

~~~~~~~~Ravenclaw~~~~~~~~

 **Thanks:  
** AnimeNerdX  
TheMaurauderCompanion  
mysstiquewitch  
shelljax  
Iamhuskera  
Redisroses  
Shelleykids  
madbrat  
shamrockus  
tamaralm


	5. Chapter 5

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: Please review and I only own the OC.

Again, thank you to Darkangelfirekitsune for being my beta and putting up with me ^-^

If there are any A/N in this chapter they will be marked with a * and the meaning behind it will be at the bottom of the chapter.

***There are going to be straight, gay, and lesbian pairings in this story***

***Don't like. Don't read***

 **Chapter 5**

 **With Harry  
** Once he reached the clearing, he started to feel weak. Realizing that he had not eaten or drunk anything, he sat on the ground. Taking off his sack he reached in and grabbed his water bottle, along with some crackers. While sitting, he tried to view the area with new eyes. But he could not find anything wrong. No signs of a fight. No inferius or George lying around, just trash. Once he was done, drinking half of his water and eating half of the pack, he put the items back into his sack. Standing up he cast appare vestigium again, and the same blue shimmery footprints appeared. No new ones heading off in any other direction, nothing saying where George might have gone.

Feeling frustrated he turned towards a group of trees and cast bombarda*on them causing them to explode. Feeling defeated, he turned and plopped down on the ground. Unsure of how long he could convince the others to stay in the area, he wanted to find George soon. He was hoping alive and not as an inferius. Lifting his eyes, he ended up looking at the footprints that led to the highway. Something still didn't seem right about the way they looked. He knew that the spell was going to start fading soon, with how the shimmering blue light was fading in and out.

Getting up he walked over and kneeled to look at them. He was trying to remember what he read about the spell when it hit him like a ton of bricks. The spell only shimmered when two or more sets of the same person's footprints were on top of each other. Standing up he started to follow them. He realized that they were on the same path the group took to get to the road. The spell faded and he had to cast it again, when he noticed they started to veer off from the others, heading left.

Following them, he noticed that they stopped at the top of a hill. Looking down, he could see that they picked back up at the bottom. Slowly making his way down the slope, and once on even ground, Harry looked around before continuing after them. Making it only a couple of steps, he saw an inferius dead on a pile of rocks, blood all around. Taking in a deep breath, he picked up following the prints until they led him into a small clearing, with a lake in the middle.

Looking around hoping to see George, but it was a dead end. Sighing, Harry looked up at the sky and noticed that the sun was setting. Needing to head back, he decided to continue his search tomorrow. Letting out a tired sigh, Harry turned and started walking towards the woods, when something hit him in the back of the head. Stopping, he rubbed where he was hit before turning around; there on the ground was an acorn. Giving it a raised eye-brow he turned, getting ready to leave again when he was hit, only this time on the arse. Jumping, he turned around and started searching the trees, trying to find the perp.

Not seeing anything he asked, "George?" while continuing to search the trees, finding nothing. He started to leave when he heard a branch snap. Looking closer at the trees, he noticed that one of them was shaking, signaling that something was climbing down. Keeping his eyes on that particular tree, he saw that it was George, slowly making his way to the ground.

Feeling relieved, Harry ran towards him, extremely happy that he was alive. Realistically he knew that the odds were not in their favor*. Stopping below the tree, Harry waited for George to finish climbing down. Taking in his appearance, Harry could tell that he was injured due to what looked like blood, both dried and fresh, along with dirt all over his clothes. He also looked exhausted.

"You scared the hell out of me you bloody idiot. Have you been here the whole time?" Harry asked his voice filled with concern. Once George had his feet back on the ground, Harry hugged him. He knew that he did not want to squeeze too tight, but at that moment he could not stop himself.

When Harry pulled him into a hug, George let out a hiss of pain but hugged Harry back just as hard. They took just a few moments to reaffirm that they were both alive.

"What happened?" Harry asked letting George go and looking him over. He started to pull him towards the lake. When they got next to it Harry looked in to make sure no inferius was waiting in its depths. Not seeing any he motioned for George to sit down, and kneeling next to him, he sat his sack beside him.

"When I got back to camp, I told everyone that I saw an inferius. Dave argued with me about how one could not have been this far into the woods. It was during this that one walked right in and almost bit me. Thank Merlin, I moved in time. I was trying to get my knife when all I heard was Dave telling everyone else to run. While I was trying to unhook my knife, it kept coming at me. So, I just turned and ran the same way as everyone else," George was saying then stopped. He tried to clear his throat and was unable to. Harry, understanding reached into his sack and pulled out his water bottle. Handing it over, George gave a weak thank you, before chugging the rest. Once it was empty, he cleared his throat again as he handed it back.

"While running I notice that some of the others were not going to make it. So, I tried to grab my knife again to turn and kill it. While turning I stepped wrong and fell down a hill. The inferius followed me. During the fall I ended up cutting myself with my knife and the debris on the ground. Pretty sure I have some bruises from it also," he said motioning to his side.

"Let me give you a check," Harry said. George took off his shirt, revealing the damage done.

"When I reached the bottom, I got up, found my knife, and was ready to kill it, but it was already dead. Its head landed on some rocks, smashing it open. I was getting ready to start the climb back up when two more made an appearance. Turning in the opposite direction from them, I ran until I ended up here. Tired and sore I knew I could not fight, so I found the easiest tree that I could climb. I figured they would get bored and leave, or someone would come to find me. When they heard the gunshots, they stopped trying to get me and started making their way towards it. I was getting ready to climb down when my side started to kill me. I was just going to rest for a little, but I guess I fell asleep. I was just waking up when I saw you walking into the clearing. Sorry for throwing the acorns at you but I didn't want to yell… and it was fun," he said a big smile on his face.

Harry was nodding along with everything George was saying, until the end where he gave him a fake glare. Turning back to look over his wounds, nothing felt broken but just to be safe he cast quid enim mali est'* to make sure. The results read that other than some bruises and a few cuts he was fine. Breathing a sigh of relief, he cast a quick episkey* to heal the cuts. Reaching into his sack he pulled out a small wooden box. Enlarging it, he sat it on the ground between George and himself and lifted the lid. Inside, there was a bunch of potions and searching he grabbed a bottle containing a greenish-brown paste. Opening it he started to apply the potion to George's bruises.

"I am happy and relieved that you are ok and not seriously hurt, but we have to start making our way towards camp. I told everyone I would be back by dark," Harry said looking George over, making sure he did not miss anything. Once he was satisfied, he put the lid back on the bottle and cleaning up he put everything back in his sack. Grabbing the strap, he placed it over his head. Giving George a nod they both stood up and George put his shirt back on. Once done, they started making their way into the woods. Walking for a while Harry gave George a sideways look before talking.

"Dave is gone. I kicked him out of the group."

"Over what?" George asked looking up into the twilight sky.

"He killed Dawn and beat Luna up. She's unconscious cause of him. I don't want to be the leader, but he forced my hand. He gave me no choice and I know that, but damn it. I don't want to be responsible for any more innocent lives," Harry said stopping and staring up at the night sky also.

"If it makes you feel any better, I think at 17-years-old, you were a better leader then Dave was. I also think we should continue to make our way towards Atlanta. It's the best option."

"We'll have to stop for supplies. Dave ate all of the food and got rid of the medication. We set up camp for tonight, but I don't know where the nearest town or city is for a supply run. When I emptied Dave's bag there was no map in it," Harry said getting himself worked up again.

"Breath," George reminded Harry.

"I guess it's a good thing I made a copy of it then," George said pulling his bag off of his shoulder searching around a bit. Finding it he held it up to show Harry with a Cheshire grin on his face; mischief lighting up his eyes.

"When did you have time to do that?" asked Harry, his own Cheshire grin on. Reaching over he grabbed it. Looking it over the best he could, with the little light available, he could see that it was a perfect copy, not that he doubted George, he just had to make sure.

"A few days ago. As I said, I had a feeling that we were going to break from the group soon. How many stayed?" George asked taking the map back when Harry handed it to him.

"Everyone. Dave killed Dawn in a fit of rage by throwing her off of a bus. For some reason, they had climbed on it. He tried to kill the inferi by shooting at them but all he ended up doing was drawing more out. When Arika and I got there a horde had formed, and that is what he through her into. They tore into her. Everyone heard her dying screams. No one was going to go with him after that," Harry said walking again.

George hearing what was said, his jaw fell open and eyes went wide. Giving a whistle George said," Bloody hell. That man was bonkers," and shaking his head in disbelief.

"Other than Dawn being dead, and Luna being hurt what about the others?"

"I don't think anyone else is hurt. I made sure Luna was not going to die, then went looking for you. Tara told me what happened. I could not leave family behind again," Harry said with raw emotion in his voice. He stopped again and tried not to start crying, failing. With his shoulders shaking George walked up and hugged him.

"It wasn't your fault. Percy was not your fault. We came to visit you as a surprise. You didn't plan nor start the apocalypse. He was bitten. We knew what that meant, and so did he. He died so we could get away. All of us would have done the same, so it's not. Your. Fault. Nothing that happened or will happen is," he told Harry, tears streaming down his face.

"Even at 32-years-old, you still think as that same 17-year-old, that the weight of the world is only yours to bear. It's not, so come on little brother we have to get back before an inferius shows up, or the group thinks we're both dead," George said releasing Harry. Wiping his face free of tears, Harry gave George a nod and they started making their way back to camp.

 **With the Others**  
Looking out in the direction that Harrison had left, there was still no sign of him and Arika was starting to worry. Awhile after he left, they heard an explosion and Paul offered to go and check to see what it was. She said no that she didn't want him to risk his life by running into a horde or whatever had caused it. The explosion sounded far enough away that it should not affect them, but it also sounded like it came from the area Harrison was heading.

Taking her eyes away from the woods she took a look at the other group members when her gaze landed on Luna. According to Bryan, as far as he could tell the only life-threatening injuries was her concussion. Without a CT scan, he didn't know how bad it was. Her brain could have some bleeding, or she could be fine. All he could do was watch her and make sure she didn't have a seizure. Taking a deep breath, she released it and turned her sight back to the woods. She was on watch and she had to stay focused.

"We need to make a fire," Bryan said out of the blue, his gaze locked on the darkening sky. When he turned away and looked at the other members, he could see confusion and worry on their faces. It was when his eyes landed on Arika, whose face was one of suspicion, that he wondered what he said wrong.

"Why?" Arika asked harshly.

"It would only draw the dead towards us," she said glaring at him. With a sigh, Bryan realized what it must have sounded like.

"I need light to be able to observe Luna. It does not have to be a lot. Just enough for me to notice any symptoms sooner. We don't want to wait until morning because, by that point, it could mean death. Also, it would help us make sure that it is Harrison and George walking into camp, and not any of the dead." Understanding what Brian meant, Alex and Paul got up and started to search for some wood they could use.

"Do you still need help with Luna?" Tara asked looking to Bryan. Shaking his head no, she got up and started helping the boys. Arika continued to look at Bryan as if searching for the truth. After a while, she must have found what she was looking for because she turned towards some rocks and started to move them into a circle.

"Why are you doing that?" Tara asked.

"To contain the fire. That way it does not spread," Arika replied with a small smile on her face. Tara seeing it gave one back and helped her move the stones over. Once they were done, Alex came over and started to drop branches and leaves into it.

"Does anyone have a way to start it?" Alex asked still standing next to the pit.

"I do," Paul said carrying over the wood he found. Setting it off to the side, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a box of matches, shaking them with a smile on his face. Before long they had a small fire, and just in time.

Sitting around the fire everyone was taking in the warmth when Alex rubbed his stomach and looking at the others asked, "Does anyone have anything to eat?"-

"I have some granola bars and a can of something I think," Tara said grabbing her bag and looking in it. Pulling the granola bars and a small silver can out, she placed them in front of her. Grabbing her bag, Arika started searching and pulled out a pack of sunflower seeds and jerky with a sheepish look on her face. Everyone laughed. Turning towards Paul to see what he had, he ended up turning his bag upside down dumping everything on the ground. Five cans fell out along with clothes and a few small items. Looking at the food in wonder they all looked up to see the triumphant smirk on his face.

"I don't know, and I'm not going to ask," Alex said reaching for one.

"We should try and ration them the best we can. I don't know where we can make a supply run, and with the way our luck is going, I don't think it would be anytime soon," Arika said reaching over and grabbing Tara's can, she sat back up handing it to her.

"Arika and I will share one," Tara said opening her can.

"Alex and I will share," Paul said grabbing one of the cans and handing it to Alex.

"Bryan can have one and save the rest for one of the others. The rest will be saved for later," he continued, getting ready to grab another can.

"No," Bryan said causing everyone to turn and look at him in confusion. Reaching into his bag he pulled out a bag of crackers.

"I am good, this is all I need right now. If there is a can of soup or broth that would be ideal for Luna when she wakes up. She will need something light and soft," he said in a soft-caring tone.

"Yea I think I have some chicken noodle," Paul said looking at the cans. Finding the one he needed he got up and handed it to Bryan. With a thank you, he took it and sat it next to the water. Grabbing the bottle, he opened it and tilted her head back a little as he slowly started to pour it into her mouth. He watched to see if she would swallow on her own, and when she did, he gave a big sigh of relief and sat it down. Opening the bag, he started to munch on the crackers.

The group was watching the exchange and when they saw Bryan relax and start to eat, so did they. After Tara was done with her half, she handed the can over to Arika, who took it with a quiet thanks. Looking down at the food, Arika could not stop herself from feeling bad. Glancing over at Tara, Arika noticed that she looked like she was going to cry, again.

"I'm sorry about Dawn," she said with sincerity in her voice.

"How long did you know her?"

"Since 6th grade. I just transferred schools and didn't know anyone. There was a pair project, and everyone picked their friend in the class. We were the only two left, so we were paired together. It was history after that," Tara said a sad smile on her face.

"She was quiet but so smart. She was not cut out for a world like this. Not that anyone is really, but she honestly could not even kill a fly. I was hoping that she could at least get home to see her family," her voice wavering and tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I think she was happy to have known you. I saw the way you guys acted, and for a while, I thought you were sisters. I saw what happened. By the time anyone realized what was going on it was too late. Dave had already thrown her off the bus," Arika said raising her head to look into Tara's copper brown eyes.

"There was really nothing I could have done?"

"No. It happened too fast."

"Thanks. I guess I needed to hear that. I'm was still thinking that there was something I could have done," she said hanging her head, her blonde hair hiding her face. Moving her hand to Tara's shoulder, Arika gave a squeeze before she started to eat. Hearing the exchange between the girls, Paul started to feel bad. He knew that something should have been done by the group, even himself.

Everyone saw that Dave was not handling the stress well. He was cracking, but they still let him lead and that was on them. If they had kicked him out a while ago none of this would have happened. Instead, they just turned their heads and played blind, deaf, and dumb.

It was at this point that they heard rustling coming from the trees. Jumping up Paul and Arika both pulled out their knives getting ready to attack. Tara quickly got up and went over to Bryan just in case they needed to get Luna up and make a run for it, with Alex standing in front.

It was a tense few seconds until Harrison walked out of the trees. Seeing his face everyone relaxed and smiled at him. It was when George followed behind him that everyone was surprised but happy. Arika and Paul went up and clapped him on the shoulders. Alex walked towards him and asked, how he was. It was Tara running up and apologizing frantically about leaving him and crying that surprised George the most. Pulling her into a hug he said it was fine and that he was sorry that she had lost Dawn. During all of this Harry walked over to Bryan.

"How is she doing?" he asked, concern in his voice, and his face showed how worried he was. Bryan looked into Harry's eyes with his own amber brown and motion for him to sit down. Now he was worried and was preparing for the worst.

"I know who you are, Harry Potter, and what you can do. I can't help your friend, but you can," Bryan said in a whisper. Hearing this Harry looked at Bryan, shock on his face.

"Who are you?" Harry asked warily. From what Bryan had said he could not have been a wizard. And, as far as Harry knew his name was not as big over here as it was at home. Looking back into Bryan's eyes he started to wonder.

"My name is Bryan Kowalski. My great uncle used to tell me stories about creatures and magic. He and his wife always gave each other knowing looks. I didn't understand until I was older. I was not supposed to know that magic was real or that he had married a witch. I didn't tell anyone when I found out, in fear that I would never see them again. But, from that moment on I knew all of the stories that they were telling me where real. One of the stories was about you. Baby Harry Potter The-Boy-Who-Lived. I don't care what you did or didn't do. I just wanted you to know that you had someone else on your side, so tonight I will keep watch while you and George treat Luna. I don't think there is anything life-threatening, but I don't know, and I have no way of checking. You guys are her best option," he said non-threatening while looking at Luna with concern.

Looking at Bryan harder, he could tell that he was not lying. He was around 50-years-old with salt and pepper hair. You could see that he was aging gracefully; with only laugh lines around his eyes. He was still tall, coming just below George's 5'9".

Harry relaxed and looked over at the others now around the small fire laughing and talking quietly. Making eye contact with George he gave a nod of his head to have him come over. Excusing himself George got up and walked over. Reaching them, Harry explained what Bryan had said and he agreed. After everyone fell asleep, they would treat Luna.

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

 **A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.  
** 1\. Bombarda- bomb (Italian)  
Type: Charm  
Pronunciation: bom-BAR-dah  
Description: To attack a place or person continually with bombs or other missiles.

2\. I could not resist. I want to say sorry, but I really can't.

3\. Quid Enim Mali Est- what is wrong (Latin) (Made it up)  
Type: Detection Spell  
Pronunciation: Qu-ee-Da A-nee-ma Ma-lee es  
Description: A spell that when you cast it on someone a list appears in the air that tells you what is wrong with them. The more server the injury the further up the list it is.

4\. Episkey- repair (Greek)  
Type: Healing Spell  
Pronunciation: ee-PISS-key  
Description: Used to heal relatively minor injuries, such as broken bones and cartilage.

***Sorry, I was planning for them to have met up with Rick's group by now, but it would have felt too rushed to me***  
Kk

~~~~~~~~Ravenclaw~~~~~~~~

 **Thanks:  
** Frisco1987  
Gubler1987  
Sakura Lisel  
firstomega  
alessandra92  
skyla121  
ajbajb3000  
redstar kitsune  
Solane Helsalrogo  
smokey054life1  
.Xanda  
silverblade243  
Thenonlyoneme  
ThePeverellSeaWof

 **Review Answers:**  
AnimeNerdX: (I have my reason for it and the apocalypse has only been worldwide at this point for a little over two months. So, it has not gotten to the point of kill or be killed with fellow humans, yet.)


	6. Chapter 6

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: I would like to thank everyone again for the reviews, followings, and favoriting. So please keep the reviews coming and I only own the OC.

There are some A/N in this story they are marked with a * and the meaning behind them will be at the bottom.

Special thanks to Darkangelfirekitsune for being my beta and putting up with me ^-^

Also the potions and spells I did makeup or found on Google.

 **Chapter 6**

Once everyone was done eating and catching up, they started to turn in for bed. Putting the fire out Arika walked up to Harry to try and figure out who was going to take the first watch. She tried to volunteer but he talked her out of it with not much fight, due to her being exhausted from that day's events. While everyone was picking their spots, Paul walked up to Harry.

"I'm sorry for not standing up to Dave through everything. I knew that the way he was treating all of you was wrong, but I was comfortable and afraid. I know I was in the wrong and should've volunteered for some of the watches and supply runs, and there is no excuse for it. Even when he told us to just let your group prove yourselves after being with us for a month, we… I should've said or done something," he said looking at the ground and then back up to Harry.

"I'm also sorry for not helping Luna. I honestly didn't think he would ever go that far, but look where that led us," he said turning his gaze to Luna.

"With her being down I'll take her watch," he said looking back at Harry; guilt on his face. Understanding and forgiving Paul for what had happened, he just was not comfortable with him taking a watch. For as long as Harry has been with the group, Paul had never done a watch. He just didn't want to risk it.

"Thanks," Harry said and meaning it.

"The stuff Dave did, it's in the past where I prefer it to be. I also understand you wanting to take a break, but I have never seen you on a watch…," he started to say before George came up behind him; placing his left hand on Harry's right shoulder.

"That would be great, you can take the last one. Arika will wake you when it is your turn. With everything going on be on high alert, and if you think you hear 'anything' wake us. Rather be safe than sorry, and if nothing happens then once there is enough light get everyone up so we can get an early start," George said with a smile on his face. Harry turned his head to give George a sideways look, before turning back to Paul. He was just standing there waiting to see if Harry would give the ok. Nodding his head Harry then turned, placing his items on the ground near Luna and across from George's spot.

Once everyone was asleep for a while, Harry walked over to George and saw that he also fell asleep. Giving a slight chuckle he bent down and gently shook him awake. Jerking up George started to look around confused, it was when his eyes landed on Luna that his brain caught up. Getting up he started to stretch and noticed that Bryan was still awake. Nodding his head towards him, George bent down and lifted Luna up in a bridal carry. Turning towards Harry, they started walking away from camp.

After walking for a while Harry stopped and took in his surroundings. Nothing was setting off alarms within him, he walked over to a tree and motioned for George to prop Luna against it. George, now with his hands-free, pulled out his wand and cast lumos. Taking in the damage they both sucked in a lung full of air. Her whole right side was a giant bruised with small cuts peppering her face. There were still small amounts of dry blood around them; along with some on her shirt. Her right eye was swollen along with a busted lip. It looked as if it would be tender to the touch.

Anger started to fill Harry up, causing him to turned his head to the side to take several deep breaths while counting to ten. Once done he knelt down next to her and cast quid enim mali est*. The results appeared in the air and read that she had a fractured cheek and nose, bruising, and a mild concussion. There was no internal bleeding, causing both of them to relax and release some of the tension that they were carrying.

Reaching into his pocket Harry pulled out the wooden box and enlarged it. Sitting it on the ground, he opened it and started searching. Pulling out cicatrix crepito* again he set it to the side while he continued his search. While searching he pulled out two more and set them next to the first. Once done he cast a quick episkey* to fix the damage to her nose and cheek. Not wanting to heal too much to avoid suspicion, he applied the greenish-brown paste around her eye. It would not be fully healed, but it would allow her to open and see out of it. Once done he grabbed relevium* and tilting her head back a little, he gently opened her mouth and poured some of the clear liquid slowly down her throat. Watching to make sure she swallowed and did not start choking. He continued until the bottle was empty, and once it was, he recapped it and sat it in the box.

With that done he grabbed the last potion, wideye*, and copied what he did previously. The only difference was that once there was only half a bottle left of the bright blue potion, he capped it and put it away. Now they just had to wait for her to wake up.

Taking inventory of the potions he had left, Harry noticed that they did not have a lot. They were either going to have to find some or get the ingredients to make them. Only if he could get in contact with someone at Hogwarts, it would make his life easier.

"You are good at potions, right?" Harry asked looking at George.

"Yea," George said taking his eyes off of Luna. He glanced around quickly to make sure that everything was ok before looking at Harry.

"Why?"

"We need potions. Once we find a stable environment and the ingredients do you think you and maybe Luna could stock up the box? We're almost out of cicatrix crepito, pepperup, murtlap*, wideye, nutritionem*, and skele-gro. We are out of veritaserum*, relevium, and dreamless sleep," he said going through the bottles.

"We need to make a stop at a wizarding town. We have not seen or been to one since this whole thing started," George said not believing that this nightmare had been going on for that long.

"We are also in need of some magical items, not just potions. Trunks, self-repair clothes, herbs…," he was saying when they heard a groan and went silent. George said nox quickly, cutting the light off. After a few seconds of looking around their eyes went back to Luna and saw that she was starting to wake up. Casting lumos again they were looking right at her when she jerked awake.

"HARRY!" she yelled turning her head around searching for him. When she found him, she lunged forward knocking him on his arse with a hug.

"You're safe," Harry said hugging her back just as tight.

"We're here," George said softly placing his hand on her shoulder.

"GEORGE!" she yelled again letting Harry go and turning to hug George with a smile on her face.

"What happened? Are you guys ok?" she asked letting George go and sitting back down. They ended up forming a small circle and telling her what had happened while she was out.

"He is a bastard. I'm happy he's gone," She said with a frown on her face.

"How did you know that?" Harry asked in confusion. She turned to look directly into his eyes. Bringing her hand up to touch around her eye, she winced in pain.

"Oh," he said looking away with a lite blush on his face. He did not think he was that predictable. Shaking her head Luna lightly fist-bumped his shoulder. After a while of no one talking, Luna spoke up in a meek voice asking, "How bad is it?"

"We healed you the best we could without causing too much suspicion. You will be tender, but after a week you should be fine," Harry said moving her hand away.

"Now, what happened?" George asked wanting to know what lead them to this point.

"I was walking back to camp after a bathroom break when I heard someone yell "Run." I saw the others running my way, so I turned and started to run with them. We got to the road and there was a small horde just standing there. Dave started to shoot at them, drawing their attention. Noticing that he was outmatched, he then ran and climbed onto the bus. I notice that you guys were not there and started to look around, trying to find you. Dave finally lost his mind and started to shoot at anything and everything. That forced all of us to climb on top or risk getting shot. You saw the rest," she said motioning towards Harry.

"I am just happy that you're ok. Just taking a quick glance at you before looking for George, it was not good," Harry said pulling her back into a hug.

"Bryan took a quick look at you and tried to help you the best he could. He had no idea what to do about the concussion because he could not tell if there was bleeding on the brain. I can honestly say that I am happy that this hell of a day is over with," George said pulling both of them into a hug, causing them to let out a couple of chuckles. After a few seconds of them just hugging, reassuring themselves that they were all alive, Harry pulled back and looked to George. He asked for the map and pulling it out George spread it on the ground and moved his wand to lay beside it. Luna hearing and seeing what they were talking about started to laugh.

"You stole his map," she said with a smirk on her face.

"No. I copied it," George said again flashing the cheshire cat grin at her. She gave a couple of chuckles while shaking her head side to side. After she was done, she still had a small smile on her face.

"We need a plan, and we can't stay here. What do you guys think?" Harry asked turning their attention towards the map. Studying the map, they started to talk, and a plan started to form. Once they were finished, they got up and started to make their way towards camp. As they were walking their movements were sluggish, the lack of sleep was catching up with all of them. Bryan noticing them got up and walked to Luna.

"You look better. How do you feel?" he asked moving his hand to have a knuckle under her chin, so he could gently move her head side to side taking what was left of the damage in.

"Tired and sore," she said with a tired smile aimed at him. With a nod of understanding, Bryan turned and walked back to his spot to laid down.

"You need to change your clothes and get more sleep. It is what all of you need now," he said looking at each of them. Luna walked towards her bag and reaching in she grabbed the first shirt she felt. Having it in her hand she walked behind a tree to change. Once done, she moved over to where her stuff was, using her bag as a pillow she laid her head down, and after a few minutes, she was out.

George walked over to his spot and laying down he was also out after a couple of minutes. Harry looking at them gave a smile before thanking Bryan for watching the camp. After filling him in on what the spell said, he nodded his head at Harry and shut his eyes. Harry then turned and walked over to Arika and gently woke her up.

"It's your time," he said trying not to alarm her.

"Harrison…...What?" she started with confusion than understanding once she woke up some more.

"That time already. Thanks," she continued while getting up and stretching. Looking around she turned her gaze up towards the night sky. Looking at the stars she saw something because the next second, she snapped her head back and was glaring at him.

"You did two watches!" she said thru grit teeth. Shaking his head no, he pointed to George.

"He took first watch. Once it was my turn, he woke me up and we ended up talking and lost track of time. He just crashed a couple of seconds ago and now I would like to join him. So, time to wake up," he said with a tired but joking voice. Studying him, she just started to shake her head with a chuckle making its way out. Waving him away she started to walk towards a tree when he turned around to face her again.

"Luna woke up for a bit. She changed her top before crashing again. So, don't be alarmed. Now I'm off. Don't have too much fun," he said walking to his spot. Shaking her head in disbelief she could not believe their luck. It seemed to be the worst but also the damnedest. She was honestly happy that it was not all bad.

~~~~~~~~~~The Next Morning~~~~~~~~

Waking up the next day Harry felt more awake and energized then he had in a while. It seemed that he was not the only one feeling good. It was still early, with the sun just rising, but he could tell that everyone was ready to leave this place. After having a quick breakfast Harry walked over to Luna and gently woke her up. Once she was awake and walking, Bryan walked over to give her a quick check-up. Harry ended up stepping aside so as not to interfere. After looking her over and giving her the all-clear, he told her to say something the moment she started to feel as if something was wrong.

Once he was done, he apologized for not helping her when they were on the bus. She said that she understood that he was afraid. Throughout getting ready to leave Tara, Paul, and Alex also came up to her and apologized for doing nothing. Luna just shrugged her shoulders and told them the same thing. Once everyone was done, Harry taking a deep breath, called everyone to gather around.

"George, Luna and I are still going to head towards Atlanta, and everyone is welcome to join us, but it is up to you. No one is going to be forced to follow and you are free to leave at any time," he said looking at each individual.

"I'm going," Bryan said

"You're not getting rid of me that easily," Arika said walking up to him and punching him in the arm. While the rest of the group laughed and joked. Paul, Alex, and Tara were quiet and looking at each other.

"We're not going," Paul said speaking up. The group of five turned and looked at them.

"I knew that Atlanta was dead and so did Dave. I do not know why he fed the lie that we were heading there. All this time we were making our way towards a military base called Camp Merrill. Atlanta is less than two days that way," Alex said pointing in the direction they should go.

"I'm sorry for not saying anything earlier, but Dave said if I did, he would kill me, and I believed him. After seeing what he did to Luna I now have no doubt that he would of." While Alex was talking Paul ended up wrapping his arms around his waist to give him support. Once Alex was done talking, he ended up looking away in shame.

"Don't be," Harry said to him.

"Dave was smart but he was losing his mind. There was nothing anyone could have done without a fight breaking out and people getting hurt or killed. He had all of us right where he wanted. He's gone and now we can move on with our lives," he said smiling at Alex, who turned and looked up at Harry giving him a small one back.

"I don't know where they are going but I am going with Paul and Alex. I can't go home just yet. After what happened to Dawn, I don't know what I would say if I found her family or mine," Tara said giving them all a small sad smile. Harry just gave her an understanding look. Once the group decided that they were splitting into two they just talked and joked for a couple of minutes while saying goodbye.

Paul let go of Alex's waist and walked up to Harry. Reaching him he held out his hand for a handshake. Seeing this, Harry reached out his arm and clapped his hand to Paul's forearm and gave a firm shake. Harry looking at Paul realize that he was a survivor even if he was unsure of himself. Once he gained the confidence, he would become a great leader, but until then he would make sure that his small group got to wherever they were heading safely.

"I don't know what you will find there Harrison, but if it does not work out start making your way towards Virginia. That is where we are going. Time to head home I guess," Paul said shrugging his shoulders and a smile on his bearded face. His mahogany hair was up in a man bun, so it was out of his face. His hazel-gray eyes locked with Harry's.

"Same goes with you, and my friends call me Harry," he said smiling at him.

"Mine call me Jesus"

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.

1\. Quid Enim Mali Est = What is wrong  
a. There are spells for diagnostic but none that I could find written so I made my own.

2\. Cicatrix Crepito = Bruise Cream. (I made it up myself.)

3\. Episkey = Heals minor and major cuts and brakes

4\. Relevium = Relief. (Again I made it up.)

5\. Wideye = Prevents the drinker from falling asleep but does wake up a person who is drugged or has a concussion.

6\. Murtlap = Soothes & heals painful cuts and abrasions

7\. Nutritionem = Nutrition Potion (Made it up)

8\. Darkangelfirekitsune is a Ravenclaw and I'm a Slytherin.


	7. Chapter 7

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: I would like to thank everyone again for the reviews, followings, and favoriting. So please keep the reviews coming and I only own the OC.

If there are any A/N in this chapter, they will be marked with an * and the meaning behind it be after the chapter.

Special thanks to Darkangelfirekitsune for being my beta and putting up with me ^-^

Also the potions and spells I did makeup or found on Google.

 **Chapter 7**

'Welcome to Atlanta' the sign said as they finally reached their destination. It had taken them three days to get there, after saying goodbye to Jesus's group. Relief filled them as they started to make their way into the city. The further they went in, the amount of damage that the inferi had caused could be seen. Buildings with windows busted out. Cars that were just lying in the road with the doors wide open. But, the most apparent was the lack of noise. No honking of cars, or people yelling as they tried to get from place to place. It was dead silent except for the occasional bird flying by.

As they were making their way towards the location that the refugee center was said to be, Harry heard something faint. Motioning for everyone to stop, he jogged ahead to the building sitting on the corner of an intersection. Peering around it, he ended up looking down the street and it became apparent that what he always thought a big horde was, was nothing compared to now. There had to have been over 200 inferi just standing or slowly walking in a circle. All of them groaning and moaning as if talking at each other.

Seeing this, Harry knew that there was no way the refugee center was still standing. It seemed that the battle was fought and the inferi had won this round. He knew that this was a possible outcome after what Alex had said, but even though, he still held out hope that some part of the government was at least still standing. That the dead had not completely taken over, but seeing this, he could now see that this type of hope was a foolish one.

Feeling something approach behind him, he started to turn, getting ready to attack when out of the corner of his eye he saw that it was the rest of the group making their way towards him. Walking away from the corner he started to look around. He was wondering if they should just leave or stay, but they would have to find a place to squat in until they could come up with a new plan. Turning to ask them what they thought, he saw the expression of fear etched on their faces. Seeing that, he knew what needed to be done. Taking a breath, he started to search for a temporary place.

"Come on," Harry whispered walking over to the group still standing by the building. Turning he started to walk back the way they came. The others followed him each lost in their own mind. While walking and searching Luna pointed to a small one-story clothing store. Walking up to it he tried to open the metal gate protecting it. With it not opening and seeing no way to do so without causing a lot of noise, he reached down into his boot and pulled out his wand.

"I will explain everything once we are safely inside," he said before casting, "Alohomora," opening the gate.

Arika letting out a gasp stared at him in shock. She turned to look at the others and when no one else was surprised, she understood that Harrison aimed the earlier comment at her. When he pulled the gate open it let out a little squeal as metal was pushed to fold into itself. Luna going up to the door pulled a stick from the side pocket of her bag. Pointing it at the door she said the same as Harrison and the door opened. She could not believe her eyes as she made her way into the building with the rest of the group. Breaking off she started searching making sure that no dead where hiding. Once the coast was clear she made her way back to the front where everyone was moving items in front of the windows. Even though the screeching was not very loud, there was still a chance it could attract some of the dead.

She stood back watching the group trying to understand what had happened. There was no logical explanation for how the gate and door were open. The only explanation that kept popping up in her mind was by magic. While taking a couple of deep breaths, the next thing she heard was, "Magic is real," coming out of Harrison's mouth. It broke the silence that had fallen on the group that was gathered around him, causing them to have different expressions on their faces.

"What!" Arika said standing on the other side facing them. She was still confused and trying to understand what had just happened. Turning her head, she looked at George and Bryan who were to the left of her. They had looks of surprise etched onto their faces, while Luna who was to the right of her beside Harrison was looking at him, with understanding.

"Magic is real. Luna's a witch and George and I are wizards. There is a magical community separated from the non-magic people with its own government. We call people with no magical abilities, muggles. Muggles are not to know about us, but I don't think that there's anyone left, on either side to enforce the rules," he said looking Arika in the eyes.

"Taking in what I saw I can say that both of our governments have crumbled. Whatever this is I bet it is worldwide and I don't see the point in hiding it anymore. I'm telling you this because I believe we will need it to survive. You were also the only one currently among the group who did not know," he continued. Arika saw that he was trying to gauge how she was taking the news with the expressions on her face. Blinking her eyes, a couple of times, she turned her gaze from him to George, who had a kind smile on his face. Bryan who would not look her in the eyes, and finally to Luna who had a big friendly smile on her face, aiming it at her.

"Why now?" Arika asked turning to look back at Harrison. She was really looking at him, trying to see what made him tell her now. She was not sure if all this was real or if she had finally lost her mind.

"With everything going on, it is more apparent now then it was before that there is no one left to help us. As I said both of our governments are no longer standing. If we want to live to see another day, then we have to use all of the resources that we have. One of the items only works with magic. I could lie, or leave you behind, but after knowing you for almost two months, I consider you a friend." Looking into his eyes, Arika saw that he was telling the truth. Shaking her head, she gave him a small smile.

"We need to work on your poker face," Arika said shaking her head with a smile.

"Give me some time to wrap my mind around this," she said walking further into the store, away from the group.

Later that night when everyone was settled in and eating the food, they got from making a pit stop before heading to Atlanta, Arika made a reappearance. Taking a seat next to Harry, he offered her a can of food. Giving him a smile, she opened and started to eat it. She was shocked to find that the fruit inside was cold. With a surprised look on her face, she turned and looked at Harry who gave her a smile and a little wink. That ack drew a small laugh from Arika. Seeing the exchange, Luna started to outright laugh at them.

"Sorry for lying to you," Luna said starting a conversation.

"It was not that we didn't trust you, it is just drilled into our heads that no one without magic can know about us. We had a classmate whose dad didn't even know that magic was a thing until his child was 11 and was accepted into Hogwarts. That is the school we went to, to learn how to control our magic," George said speaking up.

"Do you forgive us?" Luna asked giving Arika her best puppy dog eyes. Laughing at the two she just smiled and shook her head at them.

"Yea. The dead are walking around and even though I'm not 100% comfortable with that," she said while waving her hand at them. "I can see how it would help us out. I still trust you guys, but just give me a little while to get used to it may be," she said looking them dead in the eyes.

"So, what are you?" she asked aiming it at Bryan.

"No-Maj or non-magical person. My uncle married a witch and that was how I found out," he said with a sad smile on his face.

"That is all. I have no magical ability or anything like that. Just an old doctor." Nodding her head in understanding it signaled that the discussion was ended, and everyone went back to eating.

"Now that that is out in the open, what is the plan?" Arika asked after everyone was done.

"I was thinking that we need to find a place that we can secure, and the way I was thinking we could do that is with magic. We have some spells that would make it impossible for the dead to get in, but also for anyone who wants to do us harm," Harry said arms on his knees leaning forward.

"That could work," Luna said head tilted to the side eyes moving in thought.

"A safe haven from anything that might want to do harm to us? Where?" Bryan asked now interested in where this might be going, his voice laced with hope.

"That, I was going to leave up to you guys. We are not from around here and do not know the area that well," Harry said pointing to Arika and Bryan.

After talking and sorting everything out the group now had a solid plan in place. Bryan lived in North Carolina and was only in Georgia for a conference when all hell broke loose. His house was in a gated community with a lot of room. It was the perfect place not that far from a little cluster of stores that they could use later on, down the road.

Harry felt good about everything that was going on. He knew that this was just one step towards them being able to have some sense of stability, he was just wanting to know how the rest of his family was doing. Looking at everyone else he could see that he was not the only one with those kinds of thoughts. Motioning towards George they got up and walked over to a corner near the front to talk.

"Do you think they are still alive?" Harry asked after a few seconds.

"I'm not sure. Hermione could have been at the ministry. Neville was at Hogwarts with Draco. I just don't know, and I know that we need to set this up. The thoughts just keep going over and over in my mind and I know it is stupid, but I keep thinking what if they need my help and, here I am just worried about myself," George said voice and face full of frustration and guilt.

"I know for a fact that no one will blame you for not being there. I also know that everyone that really knows me will not blame me, but others will, and that is one of the reasons why I have not gone back. I keep thinking about Remus and Teddy. Are they ok or do they need help? But what I keep coming back to is that we don't know what is going on over there. I don't think they were spared. If they were, we would have heard something by now. All we can do is set up a safe place here first, then we can go over and see," Harry said with tears in his eyes, but his voice was determined. Giving him a smile George pulled Harry into a hug and for the next couple of seconds, they just stood there taking in comfort that at least one of their family members were safe.

Turning, Luna saw what was going on behind them and turned back to the group. Seeing the look on the other two member's faces she gave them a smile.

"Harry and George's younger brother, Ron, are best friends. Harry was pretty much adopted into that family right away. I think after knowing someone for 21 years you are family, but that is just me," she said at the other two. Hearing this both of them looked at her with wide eyes, then turning to look back at Harry and George, they saw that they were just looking out the window, joking.

"Yea. I can see that now," Arika said as if she knew all about sibling love. After they were done Luna got up and shooed them away, taking the first watch. Laying on the ground, that was cushion by some of the clothes, Arika realized that maybe they could help her find her family.

~~~~~~~~Next Day~~~~~~~~

Being jerked awake Harry started to look around trying to see what caused it. A gunshot went off again making him jump to his feet, running to the window looking around trying to see what was causing it. Not seeing anything he turned to the others.

"We have to leave now. Those were close by and every inferi in the area is going to be here within minutes," he said with urgency in his voice. Everyone was already packing what they needed and getting ready to leave. Once they were done Harry looked back outside and saw that there were about 20 inferi out there now, and they were slowly walking towards the sound.

"Shit. Is there a back exit out of here?" Harry asked turning to Arika.

"There is a back exit that leads out into an alley," she said pointing to the door behind the counter. Making their way quickly towards it, once they were in the back George walked up to the backdoor and opened it a little, to see if there was any in the alley. Not seeing anything, he opened it the rest of the way when an inferi came at him from the left.

"Shit," George yelled jumping away while Luna pulled her knife out and stabbed it on the top of its head. Due to the noise more where starting to make their way into the alley.

"The fire escape!" Bryan yelled running to it. Jumping up he tried to pull down the ladder but was too short.

"Give me a lift," Luna said pulling George with her. Lifting her up she was able to grab hold of it and pull it down. Once it was down Arika and Bryan went up after Luna. George and Harry were left on the ground casting bombarda, exploding the dead. Once Luna was up, she started casting also, so they could get up.

"Go," Harry said to George.

"Always has to be the hero," George said in a joking manner climbing up the steps.

"Your turn!" Luna yelled down once George was up.

Turning he started to climb up the ladder. He was about halfway up when something started to tug on his pant leg, trying to pull him down. Lifting his leg up he brought it back down, slamming it on the inferi that was not wanting to let go. After getting up enough that there was no worry of being grabbed, he looked down into the alley, seeing that about 50 inferi were there looking for a meal.

"Fuck," he said.

"Go," he said looking up at them. Nodding their heads, the group started making their way to the top of the roof. Landing on top everyone let out the breath they were holding. Walking over to look at the sides Luna and Arika walked back over to the group.

"They are everywhere. Whoever shot that gun has damned us," Arika said pissed beyond belief. Harry looking at the surrounding buildings an evil grin started to spread on his face.

"What are you thinking?" Bryan asked even though he was dreading the answer.

"We can leave but be worn, you are not going to like it," Harry said with the evil grin still on his face.

"Well if it means getting off of this roof and not waiting, I am all for it. Sitting in the Georgia sun is not the way you want to go."

"Ok. George grab ahold of Arika, and Luna grab ahold of Bryan. You guys see that large building over there," Harry said pointing to a building that was higher than the others.

"I will go first then signal for you guys to follow." After nodding their heads ok Harry did a little two-finger salute and with a pop, he was gone. Looking around Arika did not see him. It was as if he disappeared into thin air.

"It is all good if you aim for this area right here," Harry yelled after a couple of minutes. From standing on the tall building.

"Take a deep breath and do not let go," George said grabbing Arika's arm in a tight grip. She in turned grabbed George's arm, hard enough that her blunt fingernails where digging into his skin. Not sure what was going on when George said now, she took in a deep breath. The next thing she knew it felt like she was being forced through a straw that had no room. What felt like minutes could not have been more than a couple of seconds, she landed on a solid surface. Falling to her knees she lost whatever was left in her stomach.

"You are a sadistic fuck," she said pointing at Harry after she was done.

"Not really. Most people who apparate for the first time get sick."

"He still gets a little sick when he appartes so don't let him lie to you," Luna said throwing that comment over her shoulder as she walked by. George was laughing at the betrayed look Harry aimed at her back.

"You are all mentally insane," Arika whispered before getting back to her feet, to take in her surroundings.

"Yes, but all the best people are," Bryan mumbled under his breath once he was also done emptying out his stomach.

"Done with all of you," she yelled walking towards the left edge to look at the new situation.

"What?" asked Luna looking over her shoulder at them in confusion.

"It is from a classic muggle book,'' Bryan said trying to erase her confusion. Luna nodding her head in understanding continued to walk towards the front.

"So, what does it look like, guys?" Bryan asked getting to his feet.

"Not good," Arika said.

"We might have to apparate again," George mumbled looking at the other surrounding buildings.

"Luna?" Harry asked when she said nothing.

"I think we might need to help someone," she said turning back to look at the group her face white as a sheet. Running over to her, Harry looked over the edge searching for what she saw. Seeing nothing that worried him he was getting ready to ask when his eyes landed on a man who looked to be chained to a pipe. Blood was surrounding him.

"George with me. Everyone else stay here," Harry said apparating over to the new building. Landing he heard the inferi trying to gain access to the roof through the chained door. Paying it no mind at the moment, he ran over to the man. Checking for a pulse to make sure he was alive, he found a light one, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Well, until he saw the condition of his right hand. It looked as if he had passed out about halfway through trying to cut it off.

"Free him," Harry told George while walking over to the door that was chained shut. Pulling his wand out, Harry saw the hands trying to claw through with some mouths also.

"Done. What are you going to do?"

"Get him to Bryan so we can see what needs to be done. I will take care of these guys," he said with fury in his voice. Who leaves someone defenseless on a roof with no protection from the sun?" George hearing and understanding what Harry planned on doing, apparated away, leaving him on the roof. Spelling the lock away he let the door open and started to cast bombarda on them as they were making their way to him. After there was enough on the roof, he cast fiendfyre and took out all of the ones on the roof and the ones that kept coming. After holding it for a few minutes he stopped and saw that no more where coming. Done he apparated back over to the other building.

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.


	8. Chapter 8

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: I would like to thank everyone again for the reviews, followings, and favoriting. So please keep the reviews coming and I only own the OC.

If there are any A/N in this chapter, they will be marked with an * and the meaning behind it be after the chapter.

Special thanks to Darkangelfirekitsune for being my beta and putting up with me ^-^

Also the potions and spells I did makeup or found on Google.

 **Chapter 8**

"How is he?" Harry asked after landing and making his way over to the group.

"He will live but we either need to cut off his hand the rest of the way or one of you to fix it," Bryan said kneeling over the man. Taking in the damage Harry, with his wand still out, cast episkey channeling the spell to heal the damage done to the bone. He then cast it again repairing just the muscles that were cut, and it was when he was about to heal the rest that Luna put her hand on his arm stopping him.

"You have done enough magic for right now, and if you use any more magic, you will damage your core. Also, I don't think he can take much more," she said turning her head to look at the male. Turning to also look at him, Harry really took in the man's condition.

His face was sunburnt showing that he was chained to the roof for a while. The parts that weren't red were as white as a ghost, making the stubble he had stand out. He was sweating profusely and did not look well.

"We need to cool him down," Bryan urgently said jarring Harry from his thoughts. This caused him to look at his clothes. He was dressed in pretty much nothing but black. Black and white tank top with a black vest over it. His jeans were a light blueish-gray with a black belt holding them up. Looking at his feet he was also wearing black boot.

Reaching towards his left foot he started to take off his boot. Luna seeing this started to take off the other. Bryan lifting the man up, so he was in a sitting position, started to try and take off his vest. Arika seeing him struggle with this task came over to help him. Once his boots, socks, and vest were off, Harry and Bryan started to look for a shaded place.

Luna turning to George saw that he was searching for something in his bag. Getting ready to ask him what he was doing, a smile started to make its way onto George's face.

"Ah ha," he said pulling out a small package. Everyone turned and was giving him a weird look. Getting up George walked away from the group to set it on the ground. Once down he enlarged it, showing that the item was a tent.

"You mean to tell me you had one this whole time and did not tell anyone!" Harry said in a raised voice. A look of disbelief on his face.

"I might have forgotten I had it until last night; when I went through my bag," George said scratching the back of his head.

"Unbelievable," Luna said walking by George to go into it. George just shrugged his shoulders and started to walk over towards the John Doe on the ground. Turning so his back was to him Bryan, Harry, and Arika help picked him up to put him on George's back. Once George felt that he had a solid grip, that John Doe would not slide off, he got up and started to make his way to the tent. Harry right behind him to make sure if he did fall that someone would catch him.

Arika slowly started to follow them; not sure how they were all going to fit. Lifting up the flap she was shocked, it seemed that space was not going to be a problem. She was still iffy about magic but if magic could do things like this, she was going to have to start changing that thought.

"Put him on one of the cots," Bryan said from behind her, shocking her into moving to the side. She could worry about that later, right now there was someone that really needed their help.

Walking passed Arika, Bryan was trying to think of everything they would need to help this man. Just from his clothing attire and the little white flacks around his nose, Bryan knew that this guy was trouble.

"I need rags, water, thread, and a needle," he shouted while walking to the cot that John Doe was on. Grabbing their bags, the group started to search them for those items. Luna ended up pulling an old shirt out. Taking a knife, she started to make rags. Harry going through the food pack pulled out a couple bottles of water and handed them over. No one seemed to have anything they could use as thread or had a needle. Even looking into his own bag, he had nothing.

"Shit. Can someone go on a supply run and grab the items?" Bryan asked looking up at the others.

"Yea," Harry said starting to make his way towards the exit before he felt a hand on his shoulder stopping him. Turning to ask why he was pulled back away from the exit making him stumble. He almost fell but he was able to catch himself.

"What?" Harry asked looking at George with a little bit of anger on his face.

"Sit. Stay," George said pointing to the cot on the left side.

"Eat something and take a nap," Luna said. Both of them giving a nod to the others before exiting the tent. Harry, with a tired and pissed off look on his face, reluctantly sat on the cot.

"Why are they not letting you go?" Arika asked from the corner she was still standing in. Harry lifted his head up looking at her. Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath before letting it out slowly, getting his anger under control. Once he was calmed, he opened his eyes still looking at her.

"Magic is not unlimited. It varies from person to person on how much they have in their body. Some have next to nothing, and others have so much they could power a small city. Then you have Harrison who is the strongest magic user since Merlin himself, from what I have heard. But from what I can understand from all of the talk and research it is like a muscle. You need to use it regularly. You can't go a while without using it and then jump back to using it. If you jump back in without warming it up, you could hurt or damage the core. But unlike a muscle, once you damage it, it cannot be fixed. After apparating, that impressive light show, and healing the major damage done to this individual, Harrison needs to take a break. From what I understand he has not used this much magic in a while," Bryan said looking at Harry while explaining this to Arika. Having turned her head towards him while he was explaining she nodding her head in understanding, and once he was done, she turned to look back at Harry.

"It is hard to do magic without one tracing it. On top of that, I left my home because they wanted me to be someone I was not. Before the end of the world happened there were people in my home government that wanted me, because of the amount of magic I have. They wanted to control me, and I would not let them. Once I left, I stopped using a large amount due to them being able to trace it," Harry said. After he was done, he let his body fall back onto the cot, tired of sitting up. Letting his body relax he started to let his mind wander, and in the process, he ended up falling asleep.

"He's out," Arika whispered walking over to where Bryan was.

"Good. I already have one too many patients," he mumbled wetting a rag and placing it on John Doe's head.

"Could you help me by chance?" Bryan asked glancing at Arika.

"Yea," she said.

"Thanks. You can take over this part while I look at his hand again, to see all that I need to do once they get back." Nodding along with what Bryan was saying, she grabbed the rag to start dabbing the man's face. Once done she grabbed another and placed it on his forehead.

Bryan then grabbed his right arm, lifting it up gently to get a closer look at his wrist. While inspecting it he gave a little laugh; shaking his head in disbelief. It looked as if Harrison had healed more then he needed to. It was just a flesh wound, a deep one at that, but just a flesh wound that would need stitches. Placing his arm back onto the cot he started to pat down the man's pockets, searching.

"What are you looking for?" Arika asked in confusing on what he was doing.

"Looking for his drugs. He has a little white on his nose."

"Oh," she said shaking her head. It was the end of the world and someone was willing to risk their life for a little high. She wanted to be in disbelief but knowing what she did she knew that it didn't matter.

"What are you going to do if you find it?"

"Get rid of it. We have no need for it. You can go rest now. When he wakes up, he is not going to be happy," Bryan said checking the boots that someone placed by the bed. Arika getting up started to walk toward the last cot. She had never seen this side of the Doc, but something told her that he was going to enjoy finding and getting rid of the drugs. Shutting her eyes for a little she was going to relax until the other two got back.

After what felt like a couple of minutes but was hours later George and Luna walked into the tent causing Arika to shoot up, knife at the ready. Taking in her surroundings she saw that it was ok and plopped back onto the cot.

"Sorry it took so long, we had to make a quick stop at the magical districted," Luna said walking over to Bryan and handing him the items he asked for. Looking at the items Bryan stared back at them in shock. They were medical thread and needles.

"Where else?" he a little scared to hear the answer.

"There was what looked to have been a doctor's office nearby and so we went in. We were not in there long. We accioed all of the items into one of our new bags," Luna said holding it up.

"I was hoping later one of you could sort it?" she said setting it on the ground next to him.

"That is not all. We cleaned out a couple of places. We have enough food to last us months. We also found some seeds that we could use once we set up the safe haven," George said placing another bag on the ground. Hearing movement to their left they turned their heads and saw Harry getting up.

"Had a nice nap?" George asked.

"Shut up. Bring me the bag please," he said in a sleep rough voice. Shrugging her shoulders Luna picked up the bag and walked over to him. Handing it over Harry opened it, looking to see what they had managed to grab. While looking at the items, a big grin broke out onto his face.

"That was not a doctor's office," he said pulling a bag of saline out. Bryan seeing what Harry had in his hands, he went big-eyed and ended up jumping and running over to see what else they might have grabbed. Laughing Harry pulled out an I.V pole with a couple different sized needle.

"Did you leave anything behind?" Harry asked not believing what he was finding in the bag.

"What? We had no idea what we might need or not, so to be safe we just put everything into them," George said nonchalantly walking towards the cot. He motioned for Harry to get up and with a laugh he did, just in time before George fell face first onto it.

"Now it's mine turn. Shoo," he said, voice muffled by the bed. Bryan grabbing the items walked back over to John Doe.

"Bags?" Harry asked looking at Luna in question.

"We stopped at the wizarding district. It was weirdly scary. There was no one or nothing alive there. No pets, animals, people, or even inferi. No sign of a battle, just deserted," she said with worry on her face. Harry hearing this, puzzlement started to take over his mind and face. Where did everyone go and when? Shaking his head, he decided that he would figure it out later.

"Is there a tourniquet in that bag by chance?" Bryan asked as he tried to use a rag as one, and it was not working. Walking over to Bryan, Harry placed the bag on to the ground. Kneeling next to it he started to search for one. While searching he ended up pulling a medical cart out. Sitting it to the side he enlarged it. Opening the top two drawers he did not find any, just more needles, gauze, tape, gloves, cleaner, and masks. It was not until he got to the very bottom and opened it, moving the blood pressure cuffs that he found only one.

"Do you need help?" Harry asked handing it over to Bryan.

"What all do you know?" Bryan asked. That question had been bugging him for a while. It seemed that Harrison knew what he was doing, and not just in a magical aspect.

"I technically didn't finish my magical education. I left right after the war, going with my best friends Ron and Hermione to find her family. After finding her parents it took a while to fix their memories. I was walking around just taking in the surroundings when an older woman walked up and said that she would teach me medicine. I was shocked. I asked her why, and she just smiled. I told her that I did not have an education and she said that it didn't matter. I thought it was weird but after thinking on it for about a week I wanted to give it a try," Harry said while putting gloves on his hands. Grabbing the tourniquet, he tied it around John's left forearm. He started to feel for a vain and when he found one, he stuck him with the needle, that Bryan gave him, successfully. Grabbing the saline line, he hooked it up to the I.V, and after watching it for a second to make sure it was good. Once he saw that there was no trouble he continued.

"I started out with just taking the patients temperature, their BP*, weight, and height. It was about four months of doing this and reading nothing but medical books in my free time that one day she told me to drawl her blood. I did that and then she made me start an I.V with another patient. I had no problem with either and that was when I was shocked by how much I enjoyed learning and helping people. After being there for over six months my best friends ended up leaving me in Australia to go home. I told them I wanted to stay and learn some more. They were sad but happy to see that I was not as depressed as I was when we first arrived."

"After saying tearful goodbyes to them, they left. I was over there for about 5 years, give or take, when she passed away. She was like the grandma that I never had. After her funeral, the doctor that took over her practice fired me, for not having the documents saying that I was professionally trained. I was sad, devastated, and angry be on belief. It was not until I found out that she left me all of her books and money. I was shocked and trying to figure out why. Going over to her house to pick up the books, I found a letter addressed to me. She told me that the reason she helped me was because she saw a broken soul trying to find its way in the world. That she thought the best way to help me heal was to help me learn how to heal others. After that, I left and traveled the world helping anyone I could, while also still learning what anyone was willing to teach me. A few years ago, I ended up here in the states, and decided to start working on getting my GED to try and applied for medical school before all hell broke loose."

Hearing everything that was told to him, Bryan was shocked at what he had learned. Just from what he knew about Harry's past he did not have an easy life.

"You're willing to learn, and that is good. Do you know any magical healing?" Bryan asked.

"Just from what I have picked up. Muggle medicine works on wizards and witches but depending on their magic depends on how long it last. The more magic the person has the faster it burns out of there system. Some magical individual might have an adverse effect and there is no way to tell until they have one. Magical healing on a muggle depends on how much magic they are exposed to beforehand, and how much is already in their body. For example, if John Doe had cut off his hand, I cannot give him Skele-Gro. His body cannot handle it. Now you might be able to handle it." Nodding his head Bryan's mind was racing with this new information.

"I think together we will make a great team Harrison," Bryan said getting up and sticking out his hand for him to shake.

"Only if you promise to start calling me Harry. I really hate Harrison it makes me feel as if I am in trouble," he said laughing.

"Maybe because you are always in trouble," Arika spoke still laying on the cot. Sitting up she looked around and saw that Luna had gone over to the left side of the tent, to lay on the ground to sleep. Getting up she walked over to her; picking her up gently she walked over to the now empty cot and laid her on it.

"Did they say if they got any more food. I know that we are set for a while, but we are all losing weight and I don't believe that that is healthy."

"Yea," Bryan said point to the bag that George placed on the ground. Grabbing it she brought it with her when she walked over to them. Bryan grabbed the sewing needle and thread from his pocket turned to start giving John Doe the stitches he needed.

"Wait until I go through the bag that they grabbed from the magical districted," Harry said stopping him. Turning to give him a weird look he stopped.

"Do you think that he is stable enough to try a potion?"

"Yes, but which one?"

"If I can find it, it is called Dreamless Sleep. Just as it sounds it puts the taker into a deep sleep without any dreams. It helps the body heal and the person will not wake up for about 8 hours. If I can also find a numbing potion, we can put a little on his wrist," Harry said as he grabbed the bag.

Sitting in a small circle Harry started to empty and organize everything that was brought back. It was when Harry found a chest filled with potions that he started searching for a purple one. While searching the box for a few seconds, he gave Bryan a bottle that had a pale green looking paste inside. It was when he found the dreamless sleep that he held it up to show Bryan. Nodding his head ok Harry got up and opened the medical cart to grab one of the syringes. Drawling two cc's* of the potion he injected it into the I.V line. He waited a few seconds watching John Doe's face to make sure that he was not having an adverse reaction that he really took in the man's appearance.

He had curly brown hair that looked to be thinning. It was a little longer on the top with the side buzzed. His face was not as red as it was earlier. The parts that weren't red were still white, but not ghostly anymore. His breathing was also normal, and he could tell the moment that the dreamless sleep kicked in because of the lines and wrinkles on his face relaxing. He still had some worry line and wrinkles, but Harry was guessing that it was due to age. Really looking at him Harry would have guessed that this man was in his late 50's.

"Can you come and help me with his wrist?" Bryan asked pulling Harry from his thoughts. Walking around the cot Harry grabbed a mask, and they started to stitch his wrist back together. Once done they grabbed the gauze and wrapped it. Once he was awake, he would be in pain, but he was just going to have to live with it. Bryan told Harry that he was sure that John Doe was a drug user. Shaking his head Harry and Bryan walked over to Arika who was in the middle of the tent going through the bags and organizing what the other two grabbed.

Sitting down on the ground they ended up forming a small circle and were looking at the items. They were quietly laughing at what they saw. Harry had to explained what some of the magical items were, while Bryan had to explain the medical ones. One of the items that they were all in disbelief of was that somehow, they had found a gyno chair that Bryan and Arika could not stop laughing at.

Once they had everything separated and organized Harry found a magical chest that he was able to put all of the food in. He put all of the medical items in one of the never-ending bags and the other was used for clothes and fabric. Once everything was cleaned up and they each ate a can of food, they each picked a spot in the tent on the ground to sleep. Harry got up and walked out of the tent. He placed protected wards around the tent just in case before going back in. Turning to look at Bryan who was sleeping next to John Doe he walked over and cast incarcerous* on him. He made sure that John Doe was handling all of the magic alright before laying on the ground and falling asleep.

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.

1\. BP = Blood Pressure

2\. cc or cubic centimeter = mL or milliliter. cc is just the medical term.

3\. incarcerous = is the spell to summon ropes and bind a person.


	9. Chapter 9

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: I would like to thank everyone again for the reviews, followings, and favoriting. Please keep the reviews coming. I only own the OC and the spells and potions that I make up. The ones others I found on google.

If there are any A/N in this chapter, they will be marked with an * and the meaning behind them will be at the bottom.

Thank you to Darkangelfirekitsune for being my beta.^-^

 **Chapter 9**

Someone was gently shaking him awake, and Harry wanted to be mad, but he currently did not have the energy to feel that way. Opening his eyes, he turned his head and saw Luna smiling at him. Looking at the top of the tent he could see that it was early morning. The soft light of the sun just rising and casting a glow. Sitting up, he saw that everyone was gathered in a circle in the center of the tent; everyone was awake except for John Doe. Seeing this he got up and stretched a little before walking with Luna over to the others.

Sitting back down he gave everyone a little wave when an unopened canned of peaches was placed in his line of sight. Looking up he saw that Bryan was handing it to him along with a fork. Giving a nod he grabbed the canned and opened it. While eating, he looked around and saw that everyone was eating a canned of something, he knew that they were going to have to get something a little more filling soon. It was not healthy just to live off of canned food. Pushing that thought out of his head, he would entertain that idea later. He was not awake enough to have those thoughts yet.

"How long was I out?" Harry said while yawning.

"All night. I woke up before first light and Luna followed not long after. Bryan was already up checking on him," George said pointing to John Doe.

"Once Luna and I saw daylight, we woke you and Arika. Figure we could talk about the plan now that we have someone new or if it was the same. Also, so we can get an early start." Sitting the half-eaten canned of food down on the ground, Harry started to rub the palms of his hands over his face trying to wake up faster.

"What are your thoughts?" Harry asked giving the rest of the group a tired look.

"I don't care," Arika said talking into her canned of food. Bryan just shrugged his shoulders while George just gave Harry a pointed look.

"We need to leave this roof. When I was stretching my legs, I took a look around and right now there are not that many inferi on the streets. It would be as good of time as any to leave. Get out of the city and go from there," Luna said looking at the others her knees pulled up towards her chest, with her arms wrapped around them. Everyone was looking at her and listening intently to what was said.

"I am ok with that," Bryan said nodding his head.

"What route?" Arika asked while placing her now empty canned on the ground. George got up and walked over to his bag and grabbed it. Walking back over he sat back down and pulled out the map and placed it in the middle. It took a while before they decided to head out of the city going east, then change directions to start heading north, once John Doe woke up. He would have to decide if he was going to come with them or if he was going to stay. They did not want to drag him away from his home or family.

Once they were finished eating, they got up and started to clean up the tent. Once done Harry walked over to John Doe to look at him. He looked to be in better health then yesterday. His face was still a little sunburnt, but the color was pink instead of red. The parts that weren't pink were now a normal looking white and not the ghostly one. His breathing was even, and it seemed that he was recovering from what had happened yesterday.

"The stitches look fine. I cleaned and redressed them before you got up. I ended up giving him another bag of saline and once George was awake, I had him give John Doe another dose of that sleep potion. He was still dehydrated, and I want him to sleep off the worst of the withdrawal. Personally, I would feel more comfortable with him around our group once he is done with the withdrawal symptoms," Bryan said walking up to Harry. Turning his head Harry nodded and pulled his wand out, he cast quid enim mali est*. The results read that he was going through withdrawal and the damage done to his hand. Bryan reading the results was relieved to see that John Doe did not have any infection, only that they would have to watch him still.

"He can't have any more of the dreamless sleep. If we give him too much, he will become addicted to it. It also is not good for long term use. We have to dream no matter what those dreams are," Harry said with a faraway look in his eyes.

"Ok. I will tell the others to let me or you handle him when he wakes up. We do not know how he will react to being in withdrawal, and I do not want to risk something setting him off," Bryan said while picking up the medical items he had laying around.

"I agree, but I would feel better if you did the medical talking. He might listen to you than to someone younger than him. I've seen his type, and if he is a true redneck this is going to be interesting," Harry said shaking his head while letting out a sigh. Bryan let out a laugh and they both hurried to clean up. Once everything was cleaned and packed, Harry and Luna untied him. As soon as they were done, all but George, lifted John Doe up putting him on George's back. Once on, they took the ropes and tied it around them both, securing him. George walked out of the tent with Bryan right behind him, just as a precaution. Arika followed them leaving Luna and Harry to shrink down the new never-ending bags and to put them away.

They ended up putting them in the side pocket of Luna's bag to secure them. As a way, so they would not lose them, they walked out of the tent and shrunk it down putting it into the front pouch of Harry's bag. Walking over to Arika he grabbed onto her arm and she turned to look at him.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Not really," she answered grabbing both of his arms in a tight hold to the point that her blunt nails would have been cutting into his flesh if not for the jacket he had on. Getting a nod from the others that the street was currently clear he apparated.

Once they were on the street Arika fell to her knees and started to gag. Thankfully nothing came up, this time. Turning her head, she saw Harry sitting on the ground head between his legs taking in deep breaths. She started to laugh at the sight.

"I thought they were lying when they said you still got sick," she said in a rough voice.

"I wish. I am horrible at this and a couple of other magical forms of transportation. Most of them make me sick no matter that I have been using them for years," he said getting up onto his feet signaling ok for Luna to come down with Bryan.

Once George and John Doe appeared between the groups Harry and Bryan ran over to check to make sure that John Doe was still ok. He looked a little flushed, but not enough to make them worry. Once done they started to make their way out of the city.

It took them almost the whole day between taking breaks and having to find other ways around hordes of inferi that they walked upon. They ended up stopping and setting up camp a little ways into the woods surrounding a highway that was packed with cars. Grabbing out the tent Luna enlarged it and everyone, but Harry walked in. He started to walk around the area casting cave inimicum*, disillusionment charm*, and protego totalum*. Protecting the camp from everything, even a magical attack.

Letting out a breath he walked into the tent and saw that Luna or George had made three extra cots, so everyone had one to sleep on tonight. Walking over to the only free cot left, he placed his bag on it. Opening and going through his bag, he pulled out clean clothes then exit the tent. Once he was far enough away that the magic should not affect John Doe, he took off his clothes and cast spells to clean himself. Once done he cast spells to clean the clothes he just took off, also. Now feeling clean and refreshed, he walked back to camp.

Luna looking at Harry as he made his way into the tent, saw what he did and her faced lit up with joy. Walking over to Arika she whispered something that only the two of them were able to hear. Harry and George figured out what it was once the girls started to go through their bags grabbing clean clothes. Once they had their clean clothes in hand, they left the tent with them. Bryan was taking care of the patient, and once he was done looked around and ended up looking at Harry in confusion.

"Where are the girls?" he asked.

"Getting clean. Once they get back you and I can go and clean our clothes and ourselves," George said looking at Bryan over his shoulder.

"How is John Doe doing with all of the magic?" Harry asked looking over at him.

"Right now, I can't tell if the magic is affecting him or if it is just the withdrawal," Bryan said with a sigh. Harry hearing this walked over to them and looked at John Doe again. He was sweating and was flushed along with breathing heavy. Feeling his pulse, it was racing, and Harry was worried. Going over to Luna's bag he grabbed the bags from the side zipper and enlarged them. Opening them he found the medical one and brought it over near the makeshift hospital.

Finding the cart, he grabbed and enlarged it. Pulling out the BP cuff he took John Doe's and it was too high. Turning he told Bryan who was looking for a saline bag and once he found it, he had to re-stick John Doe with an I.V.

Once he was getting the fluids he needed, Harry started going through the cart for any medicine that would help him. Not finding anything useful he let out a frustrated growl. Turning to Bryan he was going to ask him what they should do when he saw that he already had a syringe full of a clear liquid.

"Found an almost empty bottle of morphine. He can't have any more magical exposure, and I don't think he will have a negative reaction if I give him the rest," Bryan said as he walked over to the I.V. line. Grabbing the line, he gave him the last of the morphine and they waited to see if it would help. After what had to have been a couple of minutes, they saw him start to relax and it looked as if he was not breathing as heavy. Taking his BP again it was still a little high but nothing that Harry was to concern about, along with him not sweating as much. Both of them breathed a breath of relief. Even though they both knew that the morphine was just a band-aid, it would work until he woke up and decided on what he wanted to do.

Hearing noise from the front of the tent, they turned toward it to see the girls were back and making their way in. They both looked refreshed with smiles on their faces. George sometime while they were taking care of John Doe most of cast natantia lumina*, giving the tent light, now that it was pitch dark outside. George seeing that everything with John Doe was good, got up from the cot he claimed and walked over.

"Is it ok if you leave?" George asked. Bryan hearing this turned to look at Harry then John Doe.

"I don't…" he started to say before Harry interrupted.

"Go. I can watch him until you get back. If anything happens, I will send one of the girls out to find you." Bryan gave him a look before saying ok and followed George out of the tent. Arika seeing the whole exchange just gave him a look.

"Withdrawal and magic," Harry said as an explanation. Arika nodded her head in understanding walked over to her cot and sat on it.

"I am starting to really like magic," Arika said letting her body fall back so she was laying on her cot. It drew a laugh out of Luna and Harry.

"What?" she asked sitting back up looking at them.

"This cot looks uncomfortable, but it feels padded. I am clean along with having clean clothes. We have everything that we need but don't need to carry the extra weight around thanks to it. What more do I need in my life, other than this nightmare to end?" Harry and Luna could not argue with that.

"I am a little upset that I was not let in on the secret earlier, but I can understand why. Just next time tell me, and I will think before making a decision," she said giving Harry a pointed look. Putting his hands up in surrender he turned to Luna who was going through the food bag. Harry motioned for her to bring it over and they started to look through to see what could be made for supper. Pulling out canned potatoes, chicken broth, and canned carrots they sat them to the side. Looking for a pot Luna let out a small ah and pulled it out. Once she had everything, she went outside to start cooking. Arika got up to go with her while Harry stayed inside to watch John Doe to make sure he would be fine. After a while of just staring into space, Harry heard someone coming in and turned to see that it was Bryan, who looked refreshed and happy.

"George decided to stay outside with the girls. I think it is to help them cook supper because they both looked a little lost," he said with his voice being light and happy. He took a seat next to John Doe.

"Luna was raised in a magical household where they have spells to do a lot of the work. I know George was raised in a similar environment, but Mrs. Weasley made sure that all of her kids could cook and clean for themselves," Harry said with a fond smile on his face.

"How many kids did she have? I know about George, Ron, and Percy?" he said and asked at the end.

"Yea, it was Percy. He came over with Luna and George to visit me but when the outbreak happened, he was bitten and then made sure that we got out before something happened to us," Harry said looking down at his hands now clenched together.

"Sorry for your guys's lost."

"We all lost someone. But back to how many kids she had," Harry said changing the topic.

He told Bryan about how there were seven kids all together and what each of them did. Starting with Bill and ending with Ginny. Bryan's eyes went big with all that he learned. Harry even started to tell him stories about what had happened when he went over to visit which cause Bryan to laugh.

"What is going on in here?" George asked opening the tent flap.

"Storytime," Harry said as an explanation.

"Anything he said about my twin and I are all lies. We were perfect angels," George said sarcastically.

"If that was the case then I never got in trouble, and trouble doesn't follow me," Harry said right back causing George to start laughing. Getting up Harry walked over to George when a groan was heard. Stopping, they all turned to look at John Doe, watching him. When he did nothing else they started to relax.

"He might be starting…" Bryan started to say when John Doe shot straight up into a sitting position. He was looking around frantically searching for something. It was at this point that he most of realized he had no idea where he was, or who he was with because he started to look pissed.

"Where the hell am ay? Who the hell are all av ya'?" he screamed causing them all to jump.

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.

1\. Quid Enim Mali Est- What is wrong (Made it up)

2\. Cave Inimicum-beware of the enemy (It warns the caster of any approaching enemies.)

3\. Disillusionment Charm- (Causes the target to blend seamlessly in with its surroundings, like a chameleon.)

4\. Protego Totalum-to protect as a whole (Casts a shield charm over a small area that will not let anything pass through, except for the Unforgivable Curses: Avada Kedavra, Imperio, and Crucio.)

5\. Natantia Lumina- floating lights (Made it up)

~~~~~~~~Ravenclaw~~~~~~~~

 **Special thanks to:**  
Angel4EverLostInLife  
917brat

 **Here are the answer to the reviews:  
** laraferreira: (^-^)  
AnimeNerdX: (I am happy that you are intrigued)  
(The reason why I did not have Harry kill Dave is due to that he see that Dave is not all there. He does not know if he is good or just fucked up. Not just that but the apocalypse has only been going on worldwide at this point for less than two months so it has not gotten to the point of kill or be killed with fellow humans yet.)  
tamaskiyuki: (Thank You.)  
Boblets: (Sorry that the OC ruined it for you.)  
917brat: (Thank you. I can't wait either. I am not going to lie I have something planned and I am hoping that the writing bug will let me do it.)  
ShadowTomes: (Thank you.)  
(I am still working on the pairings, but there will be straight, gay, and lesbian pairings in this story just a heads up. I am also sadly short being only 5'2" so anything above 5'6" to me is tall.)  
Gotts: (Top.)


	10. Chapter 10

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: I would like to thank everyone again for the reviews, followings, and favoriting. So please keep the reviews coming and I only own the OC.

If there are any A/N in this chapter, they will be marked with an * and the meaning behind them will be at the bottom.

Thank you to Darkangelfirekitsune for being my beta. Love you, sis. ^-^

The potions and spells I either makeup or found on Google.

***I am sorry for not posting last week. I was unable to write due to being sick. Hope to catch back up soon, KK.***

 **Chapter 10**

George started to back out of the tent now understanding why he was told to let Bryan and Harry handle him. Harry, seeing this out of the corner of his eye, relaxed a little knowing that between him and Brian they could hopefully have a conversation without too much yelling. Once George was safely out of the tent, he gave John Doe his full attention.

"I said where the hell am I an' who the hell are all y'all!"

"I understand you must be confused," Bryan said while he stood up, hands in front of him causing John Doe to turn to look at him, giving him his full attention.

"One of our group members found you chained to a pipe on that roof. We were able to free you and have been taking care of you for about two days. We are currently camping on a stretch of highway outside of the city."

"I understand that but who the hell are y'all?"

"I am Bryan, the doctor that treated the wrist you tried to saw off. This is …," Bryan was saying before Harry interrupted.

"What is your name?" he said while crossing his arms over his chest. This shocked Bryan causing his eyebrows to jump up towards his hairline and his mouth to drop down a little. He had never seen Harry act this way before. John Doe hearing this turned to look at him. When his eye's landed on Harry, he started to eye him up, judging him.

"Wat's it to ya?"

"It's fair. You know one of our names, but we do not know yours. I don't trust you, and before you get offended it is not because you are a hillbilly or a redneck or whatever you call yourself, in this new world you can't trust people that easy. Especially someone who is willing to get high nowadays, I trust them even less." Once he was done talking, John Doe stared right into Harry's eyes causing a staring contest to take place. They were trying to get a feel on the other, while also watching and waiting to see who was going to back down first.

"Y'all win, ye' highness," he said a smirk forming on his face.

"Name's Merle. I was in the Marine Corps. before I was kicked out for tellin' the truth, an' I like havin' fun no matta what kind. Now ye'?" Merle said pointing at Harry, signaling that it was his turn. Harry seeing this raised an eyebrow and took in a deep breath.

"My name is Harrison. Born and raised in Great Britain, I have been traveling the world before it ended. There are three other members to this group other than us," Harry said motioning at Bryan and himself.

"I am going to warn you now that we do not put up with anyone's shit, and I promise that if you cross any of us you will regret it." Merle hearing what was said continued to stare at Harry trying to figure him out. Once he decided that he was telling the truth, he nodded his head in agreement.

"Normally, I don' take no orders fro' no prett' boy's, but I'll make an exception for ya'. So, am I free to go?" he asked throwing his legs over the side of the cot while also placing his hands beside his thighs. Seeing him place his hands on the cot, Harry and Bryan, tried to tell him to stop, but they were too late. He pushed himself up, putting pressure on his right wrist causing him to fall on the ground, kneeling, his right wrist being held by his left hand, and had them pulled in towards his chest, cussing up a storm.

"What part of 'fixing your wrist' did you not get," Bryan yelled over top of him, running to his left side, with Harry running over to the right. Once there, they each took an arm and placed it under each of his armpits, looking at each other they pulled him up at the same time and sat him back on the cot. Once there he laid back down on it, still holding his injured wrist. After a couple of seconds, he was no longer cussing, just red face and taking in deep breaths.

"Well, that hur' like a bitch."

"I bet it did. You got lucky you didn't cut any bone or muscle. You have stitches right now holding it closed. You can't use or put pressure on it until it is healed. If you do that is what is going to happen, and we don't have anything for the pain, so I would watch it," Bryan said grabbing his wrist from his hold. Finding no resistant's, he started to unwrap it to take a look, wanting to make sure that Merle had not pulled out or ripped any of the stitches. Merle gave Bryan a look when his arm was grabbed and was muttering under his breath during the process. It was when he finally saw his wrist that he went quiet. He counted seven stitches, along with it being a swollen angry looking red, and around the red, it was more black then blue.

"Wat the fuck is wrong wit me?"

"You really don't listen do you," Bryan said glancing up at him before looking back down at the wound.

"As I already said, it could have been worse. You almost cut the bone, but you stopped or passed out before you did. It is just a deep flesh wound and you're lucky that you started on the top and not the bottom, or there might have been a chance of you bleeding to death. What made you decide to try cutting your own hand off, anyway?" Bryan asked examining the wound. He was happy and thankful that Merle did not pull any of the stitches. He just had to reclean and bandage it back up.

"I was on that damn roof when officer friendly came up and chained me to that pipe after we got into a disagreement. The walkers somehow got in and everyone freaked out and that fuckin ni***r dropped the key. They then left me there," Merle said glaring at the top of the tent.

"What did you just say?" Harry said, his head snapping to glare at Merle.

"You deaf. I just said what happened."

"I heard what you said I was just hoping that I somehow just heard a word wrong. I will tell you this now so listen closely if you want to join our group you will leave all of that bullshit in the past. There are no ni***rs, no fags, or any other degrading word. There is the living and the dead. If you can't understand that then once you are healed enough to go on your own, you will be gone." Merle hearing the rage in Harry's voice looked at him. A smirk starting to make its way onto his face.

"Hit a nerve?"

"I knew you would be an asshole," Harry said in a huff getting up and turning to look at Bryan.

"Once you're done, come outside for supper. You to," Harry said over his shoulder at Merle.

"Also, as an FYI, if one of our group members hear you say that, one of the dead will be the least of your worries," he said before walking out of the tent.

"So, you have one in your group too," Merle said looking back at Bryan. Looking back up at Merle, Bryan was glaring at him.

"Leave your prejudice at the door if you don't want to make enemies." Once he was done wrapping his wrist, Bryan helped Merle up. Turning, Bryan walked out of the tent to see the rest of the group sitting around a small campfire, the pot of food sitting on top cooking. Walking to sit next to Arika he gave them all a little smile.

Merle looked around at the group sitting and started to take them in. He saw Harrison talking to a blond hair female while Bryan sat next to the black one. There, between the females was the red-haired male that was in the tent earlier.

Walking up to the fire he sat right in front of it and the tent entrance. He had Bryan on his left and Harrison on his right. Merle was looking around trying to figure out the dynamic of this group. Just from what he could see, Harrison seemed to be the leader and he could not pick out his right-hand man. He thought it might have been Bryan, but he was not sure with the way he was talking the female.

"What is the plan?" she asked Harrison while giving him a real quick glance.

"Up to him," he said.

"So, what do you plan on doing?" The black bitch asked him. Merle turned to look at her before looking back at the fire saying nothing.

"I asked you a question red-neck?" she said again causing Merle to turn and glare at her.

"I ain't having to tell the likes of ya nothin'," Merle said glaring right back.

"Have a problem with me?" she said looking as if she was getting ready to stand up.

"Ya I…" Merle started to say before he was interrupted.

"Arika, Stop," Harrison said looking at her.

"I already told you guys that he was an asshole, don't egg him on. That's what he wants," he said not even giving Merle a glance.

"Supper's ready," the red-head said causing everyone to look at him. He picked up the bowls that were sitting beside him and started to put, what looked like soup, in them. Passing the bowls around so that everyone had one they started to eat. It was nothing fancy, but it was good and filling. Conversation started to pick up a little, just talk about the next move and what to do. Merle could not figure this group out. It was nothing like how Shane ran his. Harrison seemed to ask and listened to everyone's thoughts and opinions. He stopped eating for a minute and stared into his bowl, thinking about what he wanted to do. Did he want to go back to Shane's group, were officer friendly might have joined, along with the people who left him behind or did he want to continue with this one. Then there was the matter of Darryl.

"That offer you told me if I want to go and get someone does it still count?" Merle asked out of the blue, causing everyone to stop eating to look at him.

"Who and how long would it take to get them and come back?" Harrison asked turning back to his food and continued to eat.

"My brother and no more than a day. We're also no dead weight. Him an' I can track so y'all can have some fresh meat."

"Wait, you want to join our group even with 'ME' in it?" Arika asked with a little bit of attitude in her tone.

"Arika," Harrison said as a warning.

"Ya, I ain't got nothing against ya' or anyone who's the same color as ya, it's just that I'm not a fan," Merle said shrugging his shoulders.

"It is the end of the world, does the color of someone's skin really matter to you that much?" Bryan asked looking at Merle in disbelief.

"Just sayin that people with darker skin ten' not to be truthful."

"And people who have a southern hillbilly accent are stupid," Harry said looking at Merle with a smirk on his face. Looking at Harrison Merle blinked his eyes a couple of times before hearing Arika laugh at what was said.

"What did ya just say," Merle said glaring at him, his face scrunched up in anger.

"I really did not want to play your game, but it seems like I will have to," Harrison said letting out a breath and turning to look into the flames.

"I was just showing you your logic. You want to judge people on things that they cannot physically control but when someone does the same to you, you get pissed. I told you in the tent that the only thing that should matter is if someone is dead or alive. Nothing else. Not the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, or the way they act, along with what items they had before all of this happen," he said motioning with his hand around as if to point out their surroundings.

"None of that matters anymore. We all have one goal and that is to live to see the next day. A group should be able to rely on each other to have their backs. If you want to be in this group along with your brother, then you need to learn to look at the world differently or hold your tongue before someone does it for you. I will leave you behind if I think you are a threat to this group, and if I think you could really do some damage then you will not like the outcome. Just some food for thought," Harry said not taking his eyes off of the flames. He did not look at Merle once while he was talking.

Merle just stared at him the wheels in his mind turning. He was not as dumb or stupid as he like people to believe. He was just set in his ways and he did not think that would change anytime soon, but maybe he could watch his tongue if it meant staying with them.

"I ain't going to lie and say that I will change my ways, but I will try and watch how I speak. Not much you can do if that is how you were raised," Merle said nonchalantly. Hearing this Harry turned his head to look at Merle and let out a laugh. Merle, Arika, and Bryan all looked at him trying to figure out what was funny that was just said.

"Just because you were raised a certain way does not give you an excuse to treat everyone as if they are lower than you. If you go around acting the way everyone expects you to, then you are causing everyone to think you are nothing but a stupid hillbilly. You end up proving them right. I was raised that if I did anything that was not deemed normal, I was punished. Did not matter what age and the punishment never fit the crime I supposedly did," Harry shot right back at him. Bryan and Arika were watching the two as if it was a tennis match and the ball was going between them. Hearing the last comment from Harry, they looked at him with eyes wide in shock. George and Luna were just looking at Harry with understanding in their eyes.

"So, you were raised like I was," Merle said a little shocked. Looking Merle in his eyes Harry shrugged his should in an I-don't-know motion. Merle seeing this could not help himself when a smirk started to make its way onto his face.

"I'll show ya mine if you show me yours, princess?" Merle said. This caused Harry to let out a small laugh in disbelief while shaking his head. Turning to look back at Merle his face just read 'done' on it.

"Now why would I do that?" Harry said with his left eyebrow up. Getting up off the ground Harry dusting himself off and headed towards the tents entrances.

"I'm going to bed have a nice night," he said while walking into the tent. Everyone's gazes were on him until he was out of sight.

"Didn't think that he was that much of a pussy," Merle said looking back at the group with a victory grin on his face.

"How many people have you killed?" the blond head girl asked him. This question catching him off guard.

"What?" Merle asked his face twisted up in confusion.

"How many people have you killed, and I am not asking about the inferi?" she asked again.

"The what, and what does it matter to you?"

"The dead. We call them inferi's and just trying to feel you out?" she answered a bright smile on her face. The way she was looking at him and acting was not sitting right with Merle. Even though she seemed harmless something told him that she was anything but.

"A fair few. I was in the military."

"How older were you?" the red-head then asked.

"Around 19 or 20. Why does any of that matter?" Merle said sounding more and more pissed off by the word.

"He watched his mum die right in front of him at around 1 year old. He still remembers some of it. When he was 11, he ended up killing a grown man in self-defense. At 12 he almost died saving my sister. 13 he went up against another grown man that everyone though helped the person who murdered his parents. Found out that it was his godfather and that he was wrongly imprisoned. 14 he saw one of his classmates get killed in cold blood for being at the wrong place at the wrong time," the red-head said while glaring at him. Merle was pretty sure that if this man could kill in a look, he would be dead right now.

"When he was 15, he found out that his godfather was in trouble and tried to tell someone. It ended up being a trap that killed his godfather instead. When he was 16 his parent's murder decided that he was tired of hiding and blamed Harry. So, he was on the run for his life while this mad man hunted him. At the age of 17, Harry was caught and brought before the same man. He was held as a prisoner and was torture. He somehow escaped and ended up killing him," the blonde picked up talking and was looking Merle in his eyes while she did. Turning to look at the night sky a small smile made its way onto her face.

"Add that with the hell his life was because of the people who were supposed to take care of him, but instead treated his as a slave," the redhead picked back up, his face red and his eyes burning with anger.

"Calm down George," the blonde said turning to look at George and placing her hand on his arm. Looking at her George started to take in deep breaths.

"Thanks, Luna," he said causing her to get him a big smile.

"As you can see Merle, we are just trying to figure out if Harry could go through all of that and not being a prejudice asshole, what you must have gone through to become one," Luna said turning to look back at him a small smile still on her face. Hearing everything that the two of them told her Merle's eyes were wide and his face a little pale.

"You're lying or stretching the truth," he said not believing everything that he was told. How could he? It sounded like something out of a book*. Looking at the other two people he was again shocked that the black chick was looking just like him. Her eyes were wide, and she looked about ready to faint. It was the Doc. that was looking at the ground sad that made him rethink that it might not have been. It was quiet for a few minutes when a throat was cleared.

"They are telling the truth," Bryan said finally speaking up.

"It was the bear minimal version of what I have heard but everything that they said is true," he said looking at Merle then at Arika. Arika was looking at Bryan than to Luna and George, in disbelief.

"Who in their right mind would let that happen to a child?" she asked eyes and voice full of grief. She could not picture what was told to her happening to the man sleeping on a cot inside the tent. If what they said was true and they were the same person, then why did he spear Dave's life, let alone put up with half of the shit that was thrown their way. Shaking her head, she looked back at George and Luna.

"If what you told us was the truth how is he still the way he is today?" Arika asked again just staring at them.

"He thinks he is a monster, so every day he tries to prove that he is not," Luna said giving them a sad small smile. After hearing everything that was said everyone was lost in their own thoughts and feelings.

"Let's go, Merle, we are calling it a night," Bryan said getting up while looking at Merle. Turning to look at him Merle just gave him the stink eye.

"I ain't tried yet," he grumbled out.

"You might feel fine right now but come morning you will probably feel like shit. We have been giving you what we could and now that we have run out of medicine you will be facing the full effect of your withdrawal. So might as well rest now before you can't," Bryan said giving him a look. Hearing this Merle started to pale.

"And before you say something stupid or leave just know you will not be welcome back into this group. So are drug really worth your safety or life?" Bryan continued saying while just standing there looking at him. Giving a huff Merle got up and was cussing over his breath while they walked into the tent leaving Luna, George, and Arika by themselves.

"I will take first watch," Arika said looking into the small fireplace watching what was left die out.

"Wake me up when it is my turn," George said standing up and then looking down at Luna. She just gave him a smile before motioning for him to go ahead without her. Nodding his head in understanding he wished them both a good night before heading into the tent.

"Why are you not going to bed?" Arika asked looking at Luna.

"Just wanting to sit here under the stars. It is a quiet and peaceful night," Luna said looking up at the sky again.

"Ask the question that you want to, Luna."

"Do you still trust Harry?" Luna said still looking up at the sky but now her voice was a little less friendly and more serious.

"Yes, why wouldn't I?"

"Because of what we told you."

"To tell you the truth after everything I have heard and what I know about you guys, I should probably be more piss or mad then I am, but I also have seen how you guys treat everyone. You tried to save us from Dave, and he beat you up. George has always looked out for us by being a mother hen," Arika said causing Luna to laugh.

"Harry, with everything I have heard, should have killed Dave, after what he did to you and George, but he let him walk away. I don't know if that was due to him being a pussy as Merle called him or if he just felt sad for him. All I do know is that he seems fair and he gives us all a chance. I am not going to lie and say that I don't want to know more about what happened, but I think that I best leave that for another day."

Hearing this, Luna looked back at Arika and gave her the biggest smile that Arika had ever seen. It caused her to flush a little and give one back. Luna then turned her to look back at the night sky.

"It is really beautiful tonight," she sated causing Arika to also look up at it.

"I have always loved just laying down and looking at the stars. From what I can remember my dad would randomly wake me up and take me onto the roof of our house to star gaze. He would tell me stories about each one and I would listen intently. I really hope that he is ok," Luna said a single tear silently making its way done her face.

Arika got up and sat down next to her putting her hand on her leg giving it a little squeeze. She then turned her head and looked back up at the stars.

"The only family that I had is dead," Arika said.

"It happened right before I meet you guys. We were making our way towards the outpost when one of the dead jumped out and grabbed a hold of me. I was able to kill it and when I turned around there was another eating them. I was devastated. I ended up killing it. After I was done, I just sat there waiting for them to come back. I killed each one. Afterwards, I got up and continued to make my way to the outpost, where you guys were. I don't know what made Harry come up to me and start talking but I am happy that he did." Turning to give Arika a little smile Luna also put her hand on Arika's leg. They just sat there and stargazed until it was George's turn to take watch. Going into the tent Arika woke him up and while he was getting ready to go outside Arika got ready for bed. Once her head hit the pillow and her eyes closed, she saw was two little girl running after each other. There braided hair swinging behind them. She felt an arm wrapped around her waist and the sound laughing coming from beside her. A smile made its way onto her face while she let herself be dragged into sleep.

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.

1\. Hehehe.


	11. Chapter 11

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: I would like to thank everyone again for the reviews, followings, and favor. So please keep the reviews coming and I only own the OC.

If there are any A/N in this chapter, they will be marked(*) and the meaning behind them will be at the bottom.

Thank you to Darkangelfirekitsune for being my beta.

 **Chapter 11**

The first couple of days there was nothing for the group to do, while they waited for Merle to get better. They were hoping that he would tell them where his brother was, so a small group could go get him, and once Merle was well enough to travel, they would continue to make their way towards North Carolina. But he refused.

He kept mumbling, saying that his brother would not believe anything anyone said. That he was just as bad as old Merle was. Everyone in the group was frustrated; they just wanted to continue on their journey. With winter coming, the group wanted to have a place semi set up before then.

With the brake, everyone tried to relax. Something that they were not able to do since the dead started to walk. Unable to move and not having to fight for their lives, it let everyone think and process what had happened, so far. With nothing really going on everyone sat and talked about what to do once they got to the gated community. Realistically they knew that there was a chance that it had fallen or was too much of a risk, but it was a start and it gave them a little bit of hope. It was at this time they started to plan their next steps. The plan they came up with, would mean that it would be slow and time-consuming, but the group felt good about their decision.

It was on day three that Merle was able to keep down what he ate with no nausea and move around, with bearable pain, that everyone was happy. It meant that they could continue soon. They knew that he still had a while to go before he was fully healed, but happy none the less.

That night, over supper, Harry told the group members that in the morning, Him, Merle, and Arika were going to leave to find Merle's brother. Things were finally looking up, a little. It was what everyone needed. That night after supper Arika and Harry went to bed early since they were leaving right at sunrise. Wishing everyone a good night they went into the tent and checked their bags, to make sure they were ready to be grabbed in the morning. Harry looked over at Merle who was already on his cot sound asleep. His bag next to him just waiting for its owner to grab.

Crawling onto their claimed cots they wished each other good night before sleep claimed them. What felt as if a blink of an eye, Luna was waking them up signaling that it was time to start their trip into town. Getting up the three of them grabbed their bags, while George and Bryan handed each of them a couple of granola bars and their water bottles. Saying bye, the three set off.

It was a slow start, but by the time they were all fully awake, they were making great time with only having to stop, for a couple of brakes. By midday, Merle said he knew where he was and had them change directions. Making sure that the street was clear he walked up to a truck. Taking out his knife he raised up his left arm and brought the hilt down breaking the window. Arika and Harry tried to stop him, but it was too late. They each grabbed their knives ready for the alarm to sound and a horde to start making its way towards them, but when no alarm went off, they both let out a breath. Merle seeing their faces and actions let off a little laugh.

"What? Ay know what I'm doing," Merle said with what Harry was starting to call Merle's signature smirk on his face.

"That is great, but next time let us know before you give us a heart attack," Harry said glaring at him.

"What? The 'larm wasn't set an even if it was, we were going have ta steal a car ta get ta the quarry anyways. So, what is the big deal?" Merle continued.

"What do you mean we were going to need a car to get there anyway? Why did you not say that at the beginning?" Harry asked going from annoyed to pissed.

"Cause ay just thought of it. That's why." Taking in a couple of deep breaths Harry walked away before turning and glaring at Merle.

"Is there anything else you fail to mention? And if I was you, I would think before I say anything because if you piss me off too much this will turn from getting your brother to dropping you off with him," Harry said with irritation in his tone. Merle looking at Harry saw that he was serious and raised his hand up in surrender.

"S'rry, princess. Didn't think it was that big a deal. If we get there and it's night, we could just crash with the assholes an leave in the morning. Ay promise they wouldn't mind 'specially if it means that Daryl and ay are leaving."

"What, not everyone's favorite?" Arika asked, a small smirk on her face.

"Enough," Harry shouted.

"I am taking it that you know how to hotwire that if there are no keys correct?"

"Ya."

"Good. Do that while Arika and I talk," Harry said motioning from Arika to walk with him. Nodding her head Arika started to follow Harry as he was walking away. Once they were far enough that they could still see Merle, but he could not listen in, Harry turned to look at her.

"I know you dislike him and right now he is my least favorite person. He is an asshole, but we agreed to give him a chance. Can you lay off just a little? I am not saying that his old group was the worst or that he was any better with them than us, but they did chain him to a roof and left him to die. It sounds weak, even to me, but I think he is trying to see where his boundaries are. I'm not giving him an excuse, but we don't know him," Harry said frustration coloring his tone and face. Letting out another lungful of air, she looked up at the sky then back down at Harry.

"I understand, but he just rubs me the wrong way. We have wasted to much time and supplies dealing with him. He says that he can be useful to us, but we still have to wait for him to heal to see, and by then we might as well keep him. And what about his brother? I can bite my tongue with one but two. I don't know if I can do that," Arika said just as frustrated as Harry.

"I understand. With the way, he talks and acts it rubs me the wrong way also, but I do believe that a back-water redneck from Georgia will be able to pull his weight, and if his brother is as capable as he is then we should be good. But I promise that if I think that it will not work, you and I will get far enough away from them to appriate. Leaving them. I will not let anyone into this group that will put us in danger, again. We said that we would give him and his brother a chance, so we need to," Harry said seeing the understanding set in on Arika's face.

"Agree. Don't like it but agree. I am just giving you a heads up that if he says or tries anything, I will punch him the fuck out." Letting out a laugh Harry raised his hands up in surrender.

"Fine. Just let me know before you do. I hate this. I don't want anything bad to happen, but we can't live with just the five of us for the rest of our lives. Not saying that it would not be fun, but a man has needs that none of you meet," Harry said raising one of his eyebrows up along with a corner of his mouth. This caused the tension in Arika to release the rest of the way along with a laugh. Still giggling and shaking her head; she turned around and started to walk back towards Merle.

"Just to let you know most of you do nothing for me either," she said over her shoulder at him. Shaking his head Harry followed her to find Merle sitting in the driver seat waiting for them.

"So, we done with the feelings talk now?" Merle asked trying for a raise.

"Yep and I don't get to kill you…yet," Arika said motioning for him to get out of the seat. Hearing this Merle's eyes went wide before he let out a laugh.

"Who knows we might get along girly. Get in ay'm driving since ay did the hard work of getting it runnin' and know the way," Merle said not moving.

"Yes, but I am not the one with a fucked-up wrist now am I. So out cowboy. You can sit in the passenger seat and boss me around this one time. This one and only time," Arika said her face going from playful to serious. Merle looked her in the eyes and a staring match started. Harry jumped into the bed waiting to see if they could end it between themselves, without him stepping in. Merle finally smiled a little before motioning for Arika to move back before getting out of the driver seat.

"It's all yours. Hope you can get us there in one piece," Merle said while walking to get in the bed of the truck. Lifting the handle to lower the tailgate down and he sat on it.

"You either need to go sit in the passenger seat or make your way up here. Can't really give directions from back there," Arika said shaking her head.

"Ay'm workin' on it," Merle said in anger.

"Go sit in the front seat. Your wrist is still healing, and it will be faster than waiting for you to make your way up here," Harry said.

"Ay can still pull my weight don't worry about me," Merle said anger still in his voice.

"That is great, but you are healing and if you hurt yourself it will take longer. We are giving you a chance, so stop being an asshole and worrying. We are not going to kick you out anytime soon as long as you don't do something stupid," Arika said getting into the front seat and shutting the door.

Surprise made its way onto Merle's face. He was shocked to hear that from her and not Harrison. Getting off the tailgate, he picked it up with his good hand and shut it before walking over to the passenger side door and getting in. After shutting it behind him, he side-eye Arika before letting out a huff and started to tell her where to go. Starting the car, she started to follow what he said.

"I will get us there in better shape then if you were driving, by the way," Arika said after she started on a dirt road, causing Merle to let out a true laugh. Harry sitting in the bed was looking around, keeping watch when his sight landed on the sky a smile started to form on his face, he closed his eyes for a second and thought that this might work after all.

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.

I am sorry that it took forever and a day to post this chapter. I have been writing and rewriting this chapter for longer than I want to believe. I am finally happy with it and I hope you guys enjoy it. Again sorry for the wait.

KK

~~~~~~~~Ravenclaw~~~~~~~~

 **Special thanks to:  
** blaketiger  
DiLayla  
RainRaven  
Secret Fantasy Reader  
blue moon  
kaose  
laraferreira


	12. Chapter 12

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: I would like to thank everyone again for the reviews, followings, and favor. So please keep the reviews coming and I only own the OC.

If there are any A/N in this chapter, they will be marked(*) and the meaning behind them will be at the bottom.

Thank you to Darkangelfirekitsune for being my beta.

There are going to be straight, gay, and lesbian pairings in this story. Don't like, Don't read.

 **Chapter 12**

 **What Can You Do?**

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Merle shouted; Harry turned to see what caused the outburst. What he saw was an empty clearing. No vehicles, no people, nothing.

"STOP THE TRUCK!" Merle shouted again, causing Arika to slam on the breaks. Harry was slammed forward, hitting his right shoulder into the back of the truck right below the windows.

"Fuck," Harry said rubbing his shoulder, standing up, he jumped out of the bed of the truck and landed on the ground on Merle's side. Walking up to his door, Harry stopped him from getting out.

"Stay in the car," he said looking Merle in the eyes. Sometime during the ride, Merle had lowered down his window.

"You are still hurt. Let me take a look around to make sure the coast is clear," Harry continued. Getting a nod from Arika and a pissed off grunt from Merle, Harry walked into the empty clearing. Looking around, all he saw was a dismantled red muscle car on the side of the road. It looked as if the previous group had taken it apart for parts, but other than that nothing out of the ordinary. Walking a little further he saw a couple of burned spots on the ground until a closer look had Harry realized that they were not burnt grass, as he first thought, but bloodstains. Taking a more detailed look at his surroundings, he noticed the signs of a horde making their way thru. Bent branches trample grass along with footprints over top of footprints.

With a heavy sigh, Harry started to make his way back to the truck to let them know the bad news. He did not know Merle's brother but if he was anything like Merle then he was alive, and him and his group were on the move. Without knowing when the attacked had happened or which way they went they were at a dead end. Looking at Merle he knows that this might be the end of him traveling with them. They could not wait around long to help him find his brother nor did he believe that Merle was going to abandoned his brother.

"A horde came though at some point," Harry said once he was in hearing distance of the truck. Before the last word left his mouth, Merle had thrown his door opened and was out of the truck. He started to run the slight hill and to the right, towards a clearing by the edge of the woods. Once there, he started looking around and then fell to his knees. Arika and Harry seeing this let him go. Walking around, they saw signs of the attacked but other than that, it looked as if it was a decent spot to set up camp. As long as they had the right set up, it was a good place to rest. Nothing long term, but a base to rest and plan for the next move. So, what had happened to make the inferi wonder this far into the woods, away from the city? The reason why was one that troubled Harry and he was hoping that he was wrong.

"It seems that they are moving on their own. No noise or light starting them. It seems that they are actively looking for food and if that is the case them, we are in for even more complications," Harry said once he saw Arika stopping next to him.

"Actively looking for food. Fuck," Arika said a disbelieving laugh making its way out of her throat. Taking her hand, he rubbed her forehead and could not believe what she was hearing but it was making sense. With what the signs were saying happen here and what had happened to them, it was just their luck.

"This is just fucking perfect. So, what do we do now?"

"Try and find out what we can then move on. He is going to look for his brother and we will help him as long as we can before we have to move on. That is the only thing I can think of to do," Harry said. Nodding her head Arika started to make her way into the forest to make sure it was clear and to get a better idea on what had happened here.

Harry watching Arika leave turned to look at the red car. It was nice and he was hoping that there was a note or a clue on where the group had moved to. Walking up looking around he ended up finding nothing and made his way back to look at the ground. He wished that Merle was not here so that he could use his magic to help them out, but he no idea if the group had stayed together or if they parted ways, and if they did which one was Merle's brothers. Letting out another sigh Harry just did not know what to do anymore.

After walking and looking at everything that he could Harry went back to the truck and waited for Arika to come back. It was going to be dark soon and he did not want to sleep with anything but a truck as shelter.

Hearing branches snapped and footsteps heading his way, Harry turned his hand going to his knife on his belt, getting ready to attack if need be, when Arika stepped out of the clearing knife in hand, with a thoughtful look on her face.

"It looked as if it was only a small one, and the dead deer over there in that clearing lead them here," She said pointing to a bunch of trees to the left of them. Lowering the tailgate, she turned and jumping up on it to sit. Once down she took off her backpack and reached in taking out her water bottle drinking the rest of it. Once done she let out a relieved sigh before putting it back in her pack, to refill later.

"What did you find?"

"The graves." Hearing this Arika eyes went wide and her mouth opened a little.

"They buried their dead?" she asked in disbelief.

"I believe so. There were only a couple of graves, so I do not believe that they buried the inferi, but either way we are going to have to unbury them and have Merle double-check that none of them are his brother, then burn them," Harry said leaning his head back against the side of the truck with his eyes closed. Why could nothing in his life be simple? Just once he wanted things to go the way they had planned, but then again there was his potter luck making its appearances. Straightening back up Harry started to make his way to Merle, who was frantically looking around.

"It looks as if they were attacked and left while we were waiting for you to heal," Harry said walking up to Merle's. He stopped a few feet away waited for Merle to finish what he was doing.

"Found whatever you were looking for?"

"No. Ther's nutin'. Nutin' letin'me no w'ere they were goin' or when they left. I knew Officer Friendly told 'im I were dead. That'd be the only reason that he didn't leave anything. While he can go fuck himself. When I meet him again, he is going to regr…"

"Enough. I understand that you are pissed but you do not know what happened. Anything could have happened while you were away. It looks as if they were attacked and lost some people. They might have had to move to be safe. We do not know. Arika and I are going to go and dig up the graves and we need you to come to make sure none of them are your brother. Once we are done, we are going to burn them and then all of us are going to head back into town before it gets dark. We will spend the night in a building and plan on what we are going to do tomorrow."

"Fine. Do what ya need ta, but I ain't leaving until ay find out where they went."

"There is no clue. You just said that this Officer Friendly probably told the others that you were dead. We go find a place to crush and then continue to look for him. I told you that I would help you find your brother and I meant it. I will help as long as I can, but I will tell you this now. It will only be for a few days. I can't and won't put the rest of the group in trouble for him. If at the end, we still have not found him then we will be on our way and at that time you can decide if you want to leave or stay with us. Is that fair to you?"

Letting out a growl Merle turned and kicked at the ground letting out a growl. Turning back around he glared at Harry before taking in a deep breath and nodding his head reluctantly. Nodding back Harry started to walk back towards the truck with Merle following behind him. Once their backs were turned a plastic sleeve holding a piece of paper tumble by. It kept going until it was stopped by a tree with the words facing out. It read

 _'MORGAN_

 _GOING TO CDC_

 _THIS AREA_

 _NOT SAFE_

 _RICK'_

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.

~~~~~~~~Ravenclaw~~~~~~~~

 **Special thanks to:  
** 917brat  
Seigi-da  
Siel 03  
Syla07  
mihel asyki Akatsuki schizo

 **Here are the answer to the reviews:  
** RainRaven: (There are going to be straight, gay, and lesbian pairings in this story. Don't like don't read. And yes I do plan on having more HP characters in the story just working on placement and flow.)

e.b woodhouse: (This is one of my favorite reviews sorry to everyone else. This one just made Darkangelfirekitsune and I laugh)

Ariesp19: (We will just have to wait and see ^-^.)

Shadowtomes: (Thank you *hug*)

Shelleykids: (Again we will just have to wait and see ^-^.)

AenyeDeithven: (Thank you. That is what I am aiming for. I want it to take place in the Walking Dead verse and want it to be as close to the show as I possibly can. So your review saying that I am staying true to my idea made me very happy so again thank you.)

AnimeNerdX: (Thank you and when they meet up with the group we will have to see how Harry's group handles Rick's.)

jgood27: (Thank you. I am glad you love it.)

whtknight3488: (Thank you. Yea.)

chaoswizard: (I am happy that I am giving you ideas.)

RainRaven: (Will do and thank you.)

Lucifera Santanico: (^-^)

(THERE ARE GOING TO BE STRAIGHT, GAY, AND LESBIAN PAIRINGS IN THIS STORY.)


	13. Chapter 13

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: I would like to thank everyone again for the reviews, followings, and favor. So please keep the reviews coming and I only own the OC.

If there are any A/N in this chapter, they will be marked(*) and the meaning behind them will be at the bottom.

Thank you to Darkangelfirekitsune for being my beta.

 **Chapter 13**

By the time they got back to town, it had been dark for a few hours and they were exhausted, ready for bed. The only thing stopping them was they had no safe place to crash. Arika was driving while Harry and Merle were looking out the windows, trying to find a place that looked secured or a place that looked safe enough that they could secure it and fast. Everyone needed to sleep even if it was only a few hours of sleep. It took them a half hour before Merle pointed to a set of buildings a little way up.

"China man said he cleare' out the middle one." Arika, slowing down, looked at Harry in the rearview mirror and saw that he had a thoughtful look on his face. Nodding his head ok, Arika drove and parked right in front of the little store. Once stopped, Harry jumped out and told them to stay, while he jogged up to the storefront. At the door, he peered in; knocking on the window, and when nothing moved towards him, he took a step back. He was trying to figure out how he was going to get in without causing noise or using magic? Walking back to the truck he leaned on Merle's door.

"Did he say how he got in and out with the door being locked?"

"No. Jus' said he cleared all the buildings and the middle's safe from geeks. Said it was for nothin' casue there was nothin' good in them." Letting out another tired sigh Harry turned to look back at the building. It was in the middle, two other buildings on each side.

"I am going around back to see there is a back door. If I am not back in thirty minutes leave and start heading towards camp. I'll meet up with you."

"We're not leaving you!"

"You're outta your god damn mind." Arika and Merle yelled at the same time.

"I feel the love. But if I am not back in thirty minutes then you are leaving," he continued, looking Arika straight in the eyes.

"I will meet up with you guys just start heading towards camp. OK?" Arika looking back into Harry's eyes got the unspoken message.

"Fine, but I will throw you to the wolves if we get back to camp before you," Arika said a sadistic grin on her face, causing shivers to go down Harry's back. Taking in a deep breath he slowly let it out.

"Fine." Turning, he started walking down the sidewalk to get to the ally that he hoped lead behind the buildings when Merle yelled, "Hey," causing him to stop and turn around.

"Jus' don't do nothin' stupid. Your mine and my brothers' ticket and ay can't let you die before then," Merle grumbled out. This cause Harry to let out a laugh and raise his right hand, he gave a two-finger salute as a sign of understanding. Turning back around he continued to walk towards the ally with his knife out and once he lost sight of the truck, he also brought out his wand. Looking around he did not see any inferi, but it was dark. Not wanting to draw any with Lumos* he kept it ready just in case. He slowly continued walking down the back hoping that his luck held out for once. When he was at his intended door, he noticed that there was no handle.

"Fuck." Looking around he did not know what to do now. Kicking the door in frustration he was shocked to feel it shake, in a way that it could only mean if it was not fully closed. Walking up to the door he tried to get a closer look but was unable to with the little amount of light that was available.

"Fuck," he whispered again, before raising his wand and pointing it at the door.

"Lumos*," he whispered, light poured out of his wand and lit up the surrounding area. Taking a quick look around and still seeing no inferi he started to incepting the door. Starting at the bottom and making his way across and then up, it was not until he got to the upper right corner that he noticed that there was a piece of brink wedge between the door and the frame, keeping it from fully closing.

Placing his knife back in it holder he stood on his toes, reaching his hands up putting his fingertips between the door and the frame, he started to pull. When it did not open, he pulled with a little more force opening it. When it opened it throwing him off balance causing him to stumbled and dropped his wand. Catching himself he scanned the area making sure that nothing was creeping up on him before bending down and picking up his wand. With it, back in his hand, he pointed it at the entryway and seeing no movement he proceeded to slowly make his way inside, closing the door behind him.

Once the door was shut the only light he had was from his wand. Creeping around slowly he cleared the place before heading up to the front. Looking out the front door he could not see the truck and was now worried. 'It did not take him longer than thirty minutes to get in and clear the place. Did it? Did something happened that he did not hear?' These thoughts and more were running through his head when he saw movement out of the corner of his right eye. Looking he saw Merle jogging up to the storefront. Unlocking and opening the door Merle hurried in with no Arika.

"What happened?" Harry asked confused and worried. You could not hear it or see it on his face, but he was also a little scared.

"Nothin'. While you were getting in, we had ta look for 'nother ride. She's on her way back with it now. Sent me 'head so ya wouldn't worry," Merle said in a matter-of-fact voice. Relaxing Harry nodded his head and motion for Merle to go find a place to claim. Getting the dismissal Merle left out an unhappy grunt then walked further into the store. Taking a quick look around he did not see anything worth taking, so he just found a spot to sit and relax. Taking off his bag he sat it down and sat down next to it. Once down he started to rub his wrist, drawing Harry's attention.

"Hurting?"

"Yea. Has been all day. Nothin' anyone can do, no pills." Letting out a sigh Harry relocked the door and made his way over to Merle. Once he was in front of him, he kneeled down balancing on his toes while taking his bag off in the process. Once his bag was in front of him, he started searching. When he found what he was looking for he took it out. It was a small make-up bag, the kind most women seem to carry around in their purses. Pulling on the zipper he opened it up and pulled out a small pill bottle.

"I am only giving them to you so you can sleep tonight. They're only ibuprofen, so eat something and then take them," he said shaking three out and handing them over to Merle. Shocked, Merle put his good hand out to accepted. Opening his bag, he took out a couple of granola bars and his water. Seeing this Harry got up and walked back over to the doors. Still not seeing any sign of Arika he was starting to get worried again. Just before he could start to think any more on it, a white SUV pulled up and parked in front of the store. Arika getting out of the driver's side door, he let out a relieved sigh and opened up the door.

"Had a nice drive?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"Yep. Nothing like a late-night drive to clear your mind. It does your mind a load of good," Arika said right back walking in. Once in, Harry closed and locked the door. Turning around Harry walked to the left corner and set his bag on the floor. Reaching into his bag he grabbed a snack-size bag of chips.

"Did you get lost?" Harry asked causing Arika to turn and look at him.

"What?" she asked confused.

"Did you get lost?" he repeated. Arika shot him a look that he was unable to read. He was going to ask what the look was when Merle burst out laughing, drawing his attention.

"Ya did," Merle said in between laughs. Whipping his head back around, he walked over to Arika, who had made her way into the opposite corner of him and saw the lit red on her dark cheeks. Letting out his own laugh he shook his head in disbelief.

"What?" she said attitude in her voice.

"Nothing. I just did not think this group out, that is all," Harry said still laughing a little.

"Wat'd ya mean?" Merle asked confused.

"I have never been to Georgia."

"Only been here a few times," Harry and Arika said at the same time.

"That means you are now officially our map. Congratulations on the promotion," Harry said laughing still. Merle's face was in disbelief. Arika seeing his face started to laugh at it and because of the situation.

"Talk about the blind leading the blind. We're fucked," she said.

"Aw hell! We are," Merle said joining in on the laughing.

"Wait, means I'm driving now," he contained.

"Nope," they both said again causing Merle to let out a disgruntled huff.

"Fine. But ya gotta listen to me then."

"Yep. We are fucked," Harry said turning and walking back to his corner. Sitting down he was still laughing a little while also shaking his head.

"Go to sleep. I will take first watch, then Merle," Harry said looking at both. Nodding their heads ok, they got ready for what little restless sleep they were going to get. It was going to be another long day tomorrow with not know which way they needed to go, it was not going to be any fun.

~~~~~~~~Next Day~~~~~~~~

Waking up the next day Harry looked around and saw that Merle was still asleep with Arika looking out the window. Turning to look outside he saw a couple of inferi walking around but nothing they could not handle. Stretching he out up and took a good look around the store. It was a little ma and pa's shop, but everything was looted. There was nothing upfront, at least, to take. Motioning to Arika that he was heading to back she raised her hand to stop him.

"There's nothing back there, I checked," she whispered.

"Ok, but I still have to pee," Harry whispered back, causing Arika to let out a small chuckle and moved her hand in the going away motion. With a smile on his face, Harry continues toward the back.

Once she lost sight of Harry, Arika turned to look back out the window. It looked like it was going to be another hot day, but when in Georgia what did you expect. They were going to have to find food and water soon. She just hoped that they were not wasting time looking for a needle in a haystack. Hearing noise from her right she turned her head and saw Merle tossing and turning as much as he could lean up against the wall. He was groaning in pain and she gave him a little bit of sympathy. She knew that he was not feeling good going though withdrawal and no pain meds for his wrist, she just hoped he would not be too much of an asshole due to the pain he was in.

Looking back outside she noticed that the sun was rising and that it was time to go. Turning to look back at Merle she was not sure how to go about getting him up. He might have been treating her better, but today was a whole new story. Taking a deep breath, she got up and walked over to him. Crouching down she started to call his name. Trying not to scare or startle him awake, she said it softly. When he did not wake, she took a deeper breath and said his name a little louder.

Jerking up; he reached to his side for his knife and looked around. When his eyes landed on her he just gave a huff and leaned back against the wall.

"Wat ya want?" he grumbled out.

"Time to get up. The sun is rising, and we need all the time we can get to look for your brother," she said standing back up. Nodding his head ok he grumbled and got up; stretching. Wincing, once he was up, he grabbed his wrist. Walking from the back Harry saw this and went over to his bag.

Bending down, Harry picked it up and walked over to Merle. Walking over to the counter he sat it upon it and opened it up. Taking out a couple of cans he tossed one to Arika and handed Merle one. Standing around in a circle they started to eat their breakfast before making their way towards the door.

Opening the door Arika ran out killing any inferi in her way before getting into the SUV and starting it. Once it was running that was Harry's and Merle's sign to run to the SUV, also killing any inferi in their way. Once in, Arika drove off asking Merle where they should start.

After driving and looking around for a while, they decided to stop and try and form a plan. Just driving was not getting them anywhere. Finding a spot Arika parked the car and everyone got out. Pulling the map from her bag, Arika put it on the hood of the SUV and while Merle was telling her what to mark with an X.

Harry was asking Merle questions on here he thought his brother might be/go. After talking for a while Harry pulled out a jar of peanut butter and handed each of them a bag of crackers. Eating they were talking trying to figure the best route when there was a boom and the ground shook under them. Looking in the direction that it came from they saw a cloud of black smoke. Grabbing their items, they ran and jumped into the vehicle; heading towards it.

Driving towards the blast site only were able to get two miles before they encounter a gigantic hoard of inferi. There were over 300 hundred and counting, also making their way towards the blast. Not seeing any way through Arika put the SUV in reverse and started backing up. Getting ready to swing the vehicle around the dead boxing the SUV in. Clawing at the windows and side trying to get to them. Slamming on the gas she ran over them until free. Turning right she speeding down the road trying putting distance between the hoard and them. Taking a glance in the rear-view mirror she saw that some of the dead had changed their course and where following them.

They tried a couple more times to head towards the site before it was no longer safe, and she had to drive out of town. Pulling the vehicle over to the side of the highway Arika turned it off, but Merle was already out of the SUV yelling and cussing in a fit of rage. Putting her head on the steering wheel she let out a sigh.

"What do you think caused that?" she asked in disbelief. All she could see in her mind's eyes was all of the dead. How could something that had only started a little over two months ago have killed so many people?

"Stop thinking. Just breath. I'll go talk to Merle," Harry said from the back seat. Hearing him she sat back up and gave him a thumbs-up before taking in deep breaths. She could not afford to lose herself now. She promised 'them' that she would survive, and she would.

Harry looking at her, saw that she was slowly putting herself together and got out of the SUV. Getting out he shut the door behind him before walking up to Merle, who was still cussing and kicking at the ground.

"Don't tell me we're jus' gonna leave him. We have ta head back. If you're too much of a pussy to go, princess, then fine. I'll go an' look. I don't need you or blackie in there either," he raged along with something else lacing his tone.

"Listen to me. We will go back and try and find your brother another day, but whatever caused that blasted was felt and heard for miles. All of the inferi within those miles are going to start to make their way towards it. We need to go back to camp to make sure they are ok. Once it is, we will head back and look. Trust that your brother is as stupid and hardheaded as you. Someone who will not let themselves die," Harry said trying to get Merle to calm down and back into the car. He knew that the inferi were going to start coming out of the woodworks soon and he did not want them to be around when that happened.

"T'was probably the CDC," Merle grumbled out glaring at the view of Atlanta. Taking in a deep breath he continued, "Center of Dieses Control. No power and that stuff, well it goes proof so no one can get their fuckin' hands-on what everyone thought was the end of the world shit. Well looks like all those dick heads that were supposed to protect us ended up failing and I hope all of those fuckers are rotting in their own fuckin hell. Bags of shit they are," he raged again kicking the ground. Harry let him go for a couple of seconds before calling Merle's name again.

"WHAT?" Merle yelled, turning to glare at him.

"Are you coming?" Harry asked.

"Fuck. Shit. Hell. Fuck. Fuck fucking fuck," Merle yelled storming towards the SUV. Getting in he slammed the door shut still cussing. Turning, Harry started to walk back towards the SUV before glancing over his should at a city that was once home to its people and held their dreams. Now it held nothing but death and despair. Walking over to the driver side door he motioned for Arika to get out and once she was in the back seat, he got into the front. Starting up the car he drove away, leaving the city in the rear-view mirror.

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.

1\. Lumos-(light- Latin)  
Type: Charm  
Pronunciation: LOO-mos  
Description: Creates a narrow beam of light that shines from the wand's tip, like a torch.

~~~~~~~~Ravenclaw~~~~~~~~

 **Special thanks to:  
** LunarRoseFox  
Animefangirl0219  
wildwolfrose **  
**AutoCon1  
mexahica228  
janiram

 **Here are the answer to the reviews:  
** Vladimir Mithrander: (I am sorry for not being more specific on what I meant by saying I am trying to be true to the show. Harry is not going to come in wave his want and save everyone, the end. There are going to be losses and people will get hurt. That is what I meant by true to the show. Now about Sophia and Carl well I guess you will just have to wait and see. ^-^)  
AnimeNerdX: (^-^)  
chaoswizard:(I will.)


	14. Chapter 14

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: Please review and I only own the OC.

Again, thank you to Darkangelfirekitsune for being my beta and putting up with me ^-^

If there are any A/N in this chapter they will be marked with a * and the meaning behind it will be at the bottom of the chapter.

***There are going to be straight, gay, and lesbian pairings in this story***

***Don't like. Don't read***

 **Chapter 14**

Luna watched as Harry, Arika, and Merle left, a small smile on her face. Once they were out of sight, she turned and looked to George and Bryan. The three of them had agreed that while the others were away, they would finish getting everything they needed to start the journey to North Carolina.

Looking at George, she turned her small smile at him and received one back. His smile faded into one of concerned when he looked at her. She must have looked as she felt because it was not even a second later that he was motioning his head towards the tent. Nodding her head, she whispered a soft thank you before making her way towards it. Having the last watch and unable to sleep well last night, she was ready for a little bit of sleep.

Walking into the tent, she just stood there and looked around at what was now her life. Instead of traveling the world to find and document magical creatures, she was having to fight for the right to live against the dead. Letting out a tired sigh she walked over to her cot and laid down.

Closing her eyes, thoughts of what her life might have been; along with images of what the haven could mean, were racing through her mind. Just the idea that they could make a place safe enough that they could apparate* was a dream. She could not wait, the lack of knowledge of how her family and friends were doing was driving her crazy. Worry was the number one constant feeling, and it was exhausting. Closing her eyes, she took in a couple of deep breaths letting her mind go black, as sleep claimed her.

 _Opening her eyes, she was standing in a field of flowers and tall grass. Turning around she was looking at her surroundings, just taking everything in. It was when she stopped that she saw a figure standing up ahead. Walking towards it, she lowered her hands, so they were brushing against the tops of the grass. Just the feeling of the tips tickling her palms brought a smile to her face. Walking towards the figure she felt nothing but calm and warmth. The smile on her face getting bigger. Once behind it she stopped and wrapped her arms around his waist. Leaning her head against his back, breathing in his smell._

" _I miss you," she whispered. Trying to hold onto this moment for as long as she could. Feeling him turn, she loosens her grip, and when he was done her head was on his stomach._

" _I miss you also. I love you and I don't ever want you to forget that," his soft baritone voice said right above her head. Lifting her head to look him in his eyes she felt a kiss on her forehead making her close them. Letting out a sigh she relaxed in his arms but held onto his coat for dear life._

" _It is time to go," he whispered pulling away._

" _No," she whispered back holding on tighter._

" _I will see you later," he said kissing her on her lips. Looking up into his light blue eyes, she could wish for nothing more than to be with him. Feeling someone gently shaking her, she kissed him one last time before the world went black._

Slowly opening her eyes, the first thing that Luna sees is amber-brown eyes looking into hers. Giving him a small smile, she sat up.

"Lunch is ready," Bryan said stepping away from Luna's cot. Stretching a little, Luna got up and followed Bryan as they walked out of the tent. Making their way towards George who was sitting by the fire stirring whatever was in the pot.

"What are we having?" Luna asked as she sat down.

"Left-overs from last night. Harry placed it under ut nova*," George said grabbing the bowls next to him. Once they were filled and passed around, they started to eat and talk. First, it was about what all needed to be done as soon as they were in North Carolina, and about what they needed to do before they left. In the end, they ended up just sitting around and planning. By the time they were done, George got up and walked into the tent. Coming out he was carrying items for supper.

Standing up, Luna stretched before looking around. Telling the boys that she was going to check the perimeter, Bryan and George nodded their heads ok as she walked into the woods, leaving their sight.

Once in the woods, she let the sounds of nature wash over her. Taking everything in, she didn't visit the muggle world often, but when she did, it was always loud. Looking up into the twilight sky she could not believe how the world had changed. During the day she always thought that the sky could not get any bluer, but now she knew that was wrong. The nights that were almost always blocked where now so clear that you could see the stars. The man-made-noise was gone so that you could hear a pin dropping or an inferius walking.

She hated what the world had turned into, but the few beauties helped her find the silver lining. She had to find it, or all of the death would be just that, death. And she couldn't live with that.

After checking that the wards were still keeping the inferi out, she started heading back to camp. Sitting down so Bryan was on her left and George on her right, she smiled at them, before asking what supper was.

"The rest of the soup with some canned chicken. Hopefully, this is the last meal with it. Merlin, I miss Hogwarts feast," said George staring longingly at the soup. Laughing at him, Luna turned and seeing the confusion on Bryan's face started to apologize, before telling stories of the feast that Hogwarts had for every meal.

"Now I miss them also," Bryan said looking at the soup yearningly. Throughout supper, they shared heartwarming stories of simpler times before the dead were roaming around eating people. Laughing and smiling Bryan, George, and Luna were enjoying this rare peaceful moment. They had to take these while they could. A peaceful silence fell over them as they finished eating. Letting out a sigh Luna looked up at the sky, letting her thoughts run wild.

"What?" George asked causing her to look at him. Giving him a small smile, before she shrugged her shoulders. Leaning back, she turned back to the stars. It was quiet for a while, George and Bryan glancing at each other and then at her. Trying to figure out what was going on. After a while, Bryan was getting ready to ask, when George stopped him. Giving him a puzzled look, Bryan was going to ask why when Luna let out a sigh.

"How do you think they're doing?" she asked in a whisper. George let out a sigh of his own, put his head in his hands. Taking in a few deep breaths he said, "I hope they are well. I hope that they were able to get somewhere safe. Be it Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, or even the Ministry, before all hell broke out."

"I hope that it hadn't hit as hard over there, and if so that they were able to fight. I hope that my Mum didn't think that she should stay at home and defend it. I hope that they are alive and that once we are safe that we can be together again. What about you?" George asked looking at Bryan.

"I don't have anyone. I was always career-oriented and didn't care for the whole wife and kids life. I lived on my own and was never home enough for a pet. There is no one waiting for me. My parents died about three years ago and I don't know if my Great Aunt and Uncle are still alive. I have not seen them since I was 12-years-old."

"What are their names?" Luna asked curious about who his aunt and uncle were. Bryan seemed to love them. Seeing the smile makes its way onto his face you could see that Bryan was more than happy to talk about them.

"Their names are Jacob and Queenie Kowalski. I don't know if they would have made it. The last time I saw them, they were in their 70's, and as far as I know, they were still living in New York. Right before the power went out the news was saying that California, New York, and Texas were hit the worst. Maybe because she is a witch, they are safe and alive, but I have no way of getting a hold of them let alone knowing if there is anyone to get a hold of," he said sadness and defeat shining in his glossy eyes. Taking in a deep breath, Bryan was trying to get his emotions back under control before continuing.

"I guess it is now just hitting me that every time I said I would do something later, well there is no later now. My whole life that I have been planning for, retirement, working overtime to be comfy it is all gone," he said shaking his head. Not sure what to think.

"I know, and don't know, how you feel at the same time," Luna said softly looking into his eyes.

"My husband is somewhere in Africa right now, I think. He was trying to find and document a new magical creature. It was not planned for him to be over there. We were both supposed to visit Harry, but a colleague sent word, and he was so excited before he remembered that we were coming here. He was getting ready to decline when I told him to go. I knew that he was not as close to Harry as I was and that there might not be another chance for him to see it. I remember kissing him goodbye before leaving with George and Percy. I have not seen or talked to him since that day," Luna said tears rolling down her cheeks. Looking up she tried to stop them, but they just kept coming. Seeing a cloth out of the corner of her eye she looked and smiled at George before taking it. Cleaning her face and taking in deep breaths she tried to get herself back together.

After a few minutes, she turned and gave Bryan a small smile. "We can only hope that they are ok. Anything more would not be helpful to them or us. Rolf used to tell me that dreams are the way our hearts communicate with each other. I believe that if the ones you love are safe you will feel that, and if they are hurt or in danger you will feel that as well. I am holding onto the hope with both hands tight. Because that hope lets me fight, and that is what I need," she said giving them both a big genuine smile. Smiling back at her the boys took in what they heard and relax.

They sat in front of the fire enjoying the silence for a while before George said he was heading to bed. Nodding their heads ok and wishing him a good night, George got up and walked into the tent. Having the last watch yesterday, she told Bryan that she would take first and would wake him up when it was his turn. Nodding ok Bryan got up and was walking to the tent before he stopped and turned to look at her. While sitting you would have thought that she was a teen. Not a fully-grown women, with her long straight bleach blond hair, held in place with a couple of radish hairpins. Her clothes color on another person would be an eyesore, but with her, it just seemed to work. She was stronger and tougher than she looked and giving her back a smile he just could not stop himself.

"I knew a woman once," he said drawling Luna to look over at him.

"She was 120 pounds soaking wet and man oh man could she knock you out if you pissed her off. She was my best friend. Everyone thought that we were going to get married and have that whole happy ending life. The thing was that we didn't feel that way about each other. We were just great friends. She had a fire in her that no one else could see but me. She was the reason I became a doctor. On her way home one night a drunk driver hit her, and they said she was going to be fine. That she would live. The doctor that treated her misdiagnosed a brain bleed and she died. She was only 19 and I was 21. Everyone thought that she was weird, but I knew that she was one of a kind. You remind me of her with the fire I see burning in you. I hope you have great night Luna," he said before continuing into the tent, leaving her.

Looking at the fire Luna with a soft smile come on her face as she let the warmth take hold. There was another silver lining to add to her list. She hoped that it would continue to grow.

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

 **A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.  
** 1\. Apparate- Ready (Latin)  
Type: none  
Pronunciation: aa-puh-ray-t  
Description: Teleportation spell, used to teleport the user and anyone touching them to a location. The destination is one that the primary user has been to or seen in some fashion previously. Any items on the individuals being apparated are also teleported. Does not require the use of an incantation or wand movement to perform.

2\. Ut Nova- Keep fresh (Latin) (Made it up)  
Type: Charm  
Pronunciation: OO-ta No-Va  
Description: Used to keep anything fresh.

***Darkangelfirekitsune and I have been rereading and cleaning up the earlier chapters. Chapter 1 thru 5 are done and reposted if you want to reread them***  
Kk & Dafk

~~~~~~~~Ravenclaw~~~~~~~~

 **Thanks:**  
Dragon1214  
Celeste Vereidiger  
amy potter b  
MarieReeds  
Waiting ON a wish  
WillowQuill264  
mana-posson-rouge  
Karinyu  
Vladimir Mithrander  
NineTailFoxFan  
The Queen's Hound  
Blackpanther  
Literal-Omnisexual-Satan  
Shadow-light245

 **Review Answers:**  
mystiquewitch: (Don't worry the wait is worth it, at least that is what Darkangelfirekitsune says.)

Vladimir Mithrander: (Welcome and thank, I am trying to move the story along but also trying to give character development.)

libraryrockerr: (THANK YOU. I am trying to make the characters seem real and not fake. We are working hard on this story and others. ^-^ Hehehe)


	15. Chapter 15

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: Please review and I only own the OC.

Again, thank you to Darkangelfirekitsune for being my beta and putting up with me ^-^

If there are any A/N in this chapter they will be marked with a * and the meaning behind it will be at the bottom of the chapter.

***There are going to be straight, gay, and lesbian pairings in this story***

***Don't like. Don't read***

I dedicate this chapter to Shelleykids.

Hope everything gets better,

Kk

 **MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS**

 **Chapter 15**

Sitting by the fire, George was enjoying the heat from the coals, imagining what kind of trouble Harry was in. When his group had not returned yesterday, they all started to worry. Bryan tried to reassure them that Harry, Arika, and Merle were ok, but it didn't work. Not with Luna and him knowing the way Harry's luck functioned.

Taking in a deep breath, he looked up at the sky. It was beautiful, with its orangish-pink coloration. His thoughts strayed to Angelina and their baby, hoping they were both ok. He could not believe the hell this 'vacation' had turned into. It was supposed to have been relaxing.

The family was going to take turns visiting with Harry, now that he was staying in one place for a while. Percy, Penelope, Luna, her husband, and his own little family were the first to come over. Then everything fell apart.

When Luna's husband was unable to go, Angelina told him that she would wait a few days and come over with Ron and Hermione. He tried to talk her out of it, but she swore up and down that it was fine. Give the four of them a chance to catch up, because she was not as close to Harry, as they were. She only played quidditch with him for a few years, and that they would be fine.

He could not figure out why? Why did the world have to end? Why couldn't it have waited a few more days? Where they somewhere safe? Would they have been better with him, or were they safer wherever they were? Once the questions entered his mind, they would not leave. They would just keep going around and around, like one of those merry-go-round things.

All these 'What if's' wouldn't let him rest, when what Luna said a few nights ago came to mind. When he was able to sleep, he couldn't recall the dreams, per se, just the feelings. Worry, terror, sadness, happiness, hope, safety, and love. He hoped that what she had said was true because that would mean that even though Angelina was worried and scared, that she was alive.

Noticing that blue was overtaking the sky, he leaned forward. Standing up George turned towards the tent and walked in to grab the items he needed to make breakfast. Once the oatmeal was done, he reached into the bag of berries that he had found and added them to each bowl. Getting up he walked over to the tent entrance and pulling it back he looking in to see Luna and Bryan still asleep.

"BREAKFAST!" he yelled, startling Bryan awake, making him fall off the cot. Luna just raised her hand and flipped him off, causing him to start laughing. Letting the flap fall back into place he walked over and sat back down.

"Was that necessary?" Bryan asked walking out of the tent rubbing the back of his head. Luna, right behind him, silently laughing.

"You should have seen how he was at school. Back then he and his friends would have pranked you with a sticking charm and some feathers or had something following you around singing. Fred, Lee, and him where the newest pranksters of the school. It was fun for the kids, not so much for the professors. I miss those days," Luna said sitting down with a sigh. Seeing the bowl being handed towards her, she gave thanks before grabbing it.

"I don't know," George said looking into his own.

"It was fun for a few years before it turned into hell. We know how to live and are better suited to survive now due to the war, but we were lucky that we only lost who we did during it. It could have been worse," he said voice filled with grief. Nodding her head in understanding, Luna started to eat.

"Was the war that bad?" Bryan asked in-between bites.

"Yes," George said.

"The youngest person fighting was 13-years-old, and the oldest was over a hundred, but the majority were still in school. That was our side. The other side had grown witches and wizards. Werewolves, Trolls, and Giants. It was an unfair fight when you think about it. At the time we were wanting to fight. We wanted to defend our home. We thought that we could do it and somehow we did, but it was by some miracle," George said setting his empty bowl aside.

"It was a dark time and I don't blame Harry for leaving. He had to kill a man at the age of 17. Instead of making sure he was ok, they just threw him into the limelight. At that time with all of the deaths, a lot of us could not help him and it was one of my greatest regrets. That I let him go through that without anyone being there."

"You were having to go through with burying…," Luna started to say before George shook his head no.

"I know, but you know that he would have wanted one of us to be there for Harry. He would have made sure that he was included," George said a few tears running down his face. Taking in a deep breath he slowly let it out.

"I think the reason that this is harder on us, is because the war was only 14-years-ago. We lost family and friends and were just getting our lives up and going. Finally living in peace and what happens, the dead start walking and eating everyone," George said standing up and walking away from camp.

"I'm going to check the perimeter. I'll be back," he said heading out of camp. He needed to breathe. There was nothing he could have done then and now. It was a matter of the heart. It was a wound that would never fully heal.

Walking around he kept his eyes open but thankfully he did not come across any inferius. Making his way into camp, he saw Bryan teaching Luna a card game. Going over towards his spot, he gave them a small smile before sitting down and watched them play. It was a game called Go fish, and after a few rounds of Luna losing he smiled at her. Turning their heads, both of them gave him a confused look.

"What?" Luna asked after a few seconds when George had not said anything.

"I know we don't need anything, but it would give us something to do while we wait. And you know the more the merrier," George said batting his eyes at her. Letting out a laugh she leaned over and pushed him before standing up. Turning to Bryan she gave a smile before asking, "Do you want to come with?"

"No. I'll stay here just in case. But you guys can go. It's better than just sitting here waiting," Bryan said getting up and going into the tent. George and Luna looked at each other but before they could say anything, Bryan came out with a book and a couple of bags. Holding the bags out they each grabbed one. Giving them a nod, he walked over to the fire and sat down.

"Go on. I can read while you guys are gone. There are a lot of medical books in the haul you guys grabbed. When I was still in medical school I worked in a hospital, but that was a long time ago with a younger me. I'm a personal care physician now or I was. I have not done anything surgical in years. Might as well read and see what I remember. Better to know what I can and can't do now rather than later," he said showing them the front of the book. Nodding their heads in understand, they turned and started to walk into the woods.

On the way to the road they talked and decided that they would split ways. One would work on each side of the road. Walking through the vehicles they checked each one for any items they could use. If one of the cars had an alarm still active, they bypassed it. Better to be safe than sorry, very, VERY sorry.

When the sun was high in the sky, signaling midday, they found a truck to take a break on. George, taking off his bag, reached in and took out some packs of peanut butter crackers and a bag full of berries. Offering some to Luna who gave a soft thanks, she took two packs of crackers. Reaching into the bag full of berries she put a hand full into her mouth.

"I've been meaning to ask you where and when did you find blueberries," Luna asked after she finished chewing.

"There are a couple of bushes by the stream. I double and tripled checked to make sure they were safe, then cleaned them. We have about 10 more bags of them back at camp," he said with a smirk on his face putting some into his mouth.

"Lucky us," Luna said going back to eating. Once the food of gone they leaned back to relax for a second.

"What have you found so far?" Luna asked looking up at the sky.

"Not much. Just clothes and a lot of personal items. You?" George asked before drinking some water.

"Same. I also found some cans of food and some cases of water. It's not much but it's something. Oh, and I also found this," she said pulling out a knife. It was not small, but it was also not too big. It was still new, shiny, and in great condition.

"I would give it to Harry when we see him next. He is down one since giving Arika his spare," George said reaching out to get a better look at it. Handing it over, George gave Luna thanks. It was heavier than any of his knives, but it felt good in a weird way. Getting ready to hand it back, he stopped midday when he heard shuffling.

Looking into Luna's eyes he saw that they were blown wide in fear. Jumping off the truck, the two of them rolled under it, not taking the time to see where they were coming from. The number of footsteps they could hear slowly getting closer was not sounding like a pleasant number.

Holding his breath, George reached down to grab his wand from the protective pouch on his side. Once freed he quietly cast a disillusionment charm*, and long with a silencio*. Now all they could do was wait and hope that it was enough. Grabbing ahold of each other's hand they waited for the first inferi to walk by. Hearing the groans with the shuffling of the feet they waited. It felt like hours but, could not have been more than five minutes before the last of the horde walked by.

Still, they waited a few more minutes to make sure the coast was clear. When no more walked by, George whispered finite* to cancel the spells he cast before rolling out from underneath the car. Being on high alert and not wanting to get caught unaware, Luna and George kept taking turns to look behind them while they lightly jog back down the road. Heading toward the break in the woods that they came from, they slowed down to walking. Making sure that they were checking the surroundings, for no surprise attacks. Walking further into the woods it was right before they hit the perimeter that two different screams were heard.

Once was Bryans and the other sounded female. Looking at each other, George nodded his head toward camp before taking off in a run towards where he thought the female scream came from. Running, he was not sure what he would find or even what he was running into. It wasn't Arika, that the screamed belonged to. It was too high pitched. He was hoping that the person was good and not bad.

He came upon a small clearing with a little girl trying to run away from a couple of inferius that were slowly walking towards her. Hurrying to her he grabbed her arm and put her behind him. Lifting his wand, he cast confringo* on the first inferi's head exploding it, while also setting it on fire. Turning to the other he repeated the process. He let them burn a little before pointing his wand at the burning corpses and cast aguamenti*, a stream of water jetted from the tip putting them out. Turning around, he let a couple of cusses out when he noticed that she was gone. Casting appare vestigium* one the ground he started to follow the light pink footprints.

While he was jogging, he still took in his surroundings, making sure that there were no other inferi nearby. Coming onto a small cabin he saw that the prints led to it. Slowing down he cautiously approached the front door.

Pushing it open he took a couple of steps in, looking around. It was an open floor plan. Walking a little further in, what was the living room, he heard a small whimper coming from the left. Goin over to the wall he saw that there was a door where the noise was coming from. With his wand at the read, he slowly opened the door. There curled up, with her knees to her chest and her left arm wrapped around them, was the little girl crying.

"Are you ok?" George asked her kneeling to her level. Shaking her head, she just held onto her knees tighter. Taking in a deep breath, he continued.

"Where are you hurt?"

"No," she said in a small whisper.

"It's ok. I just need to know so I can help you. How about your name? Mine is George."

"Sophia," she still whispering.

"Well Sofia, I would like to make sure you're ok. Once that is done, I can take you back to your family. Does that sound good to you?" George asked his voice staying calm. Looking up at him for the first time she stared into his eyes before nodding her head yes. Slowly she started to uncurled herself. Standing up she pointed to her right shoulder.

"It hurts," she said pointing at a red spot on her shirt. Looking at where she was pointing, he took in a deep breath. The shirt was ripped a little and she was still bleeding.

"I need to get a better look, is it ok if I pull it down a little?" George asked his voice still calm. But inside he was hoping and praying to anything or anyone that was listening that it was not what he was thinking. That the world couldn't be this cruel to someone so small and innocent. But he knew this was not the case. The world never played by those rules before it ended, so why would it start now. Taking in a deep breath, he grabbed a hold of her collar and pulled it so he could see the wound.

"Aw love," he said softly looking into her tear-filled eyes.

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

 **A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.  
** 1\. Disillusionment Charm  
Type: Charm  
Description: Causes the target to blend seamlessly in with its surroundings, like a chameleon.

2\. Silencio- silence (Spanish/Portuguese)

Type: Silencing Charm

Pronunciation: sih-LEN-see-oh

Description: Makes something silent.

3\. Finite- to finish (Latin)

Type: General Counter-Spell

Pronunciation: fi-NEE-tay in-can-TAH-tem

Description: Terminates all spell effects in the vicinity of the caster.

4\. Confringo- destroy (Latin)  
Type: Blasting Curse  
Pronunciation: kon-FRING-goh  
Description: Causes anything that the spell comes into contact with to explode, and presumably thereafter burst into flame.

5\. Aguamenti- water mind (a hybrid of Latin and mentis)  
Type: Charm, Conjuration  
Pronunciation: AH-gwah-MEN-tee  
Description: Produces a fountain or jet of water from the wand tip.

6\. Appare Vestigium- it was clear footprints (Latin)  
Type: Charm  
Pronunciation: app-PAH-ray vest-EE-gee-um  
Description: This spell is used to reveal footprints and track marks.

~~~~~~~~Ravenclaw~~~~~~~~

 **Thanks:  
** Rawrimallama1390 **  
**angel25black **  
**redsugg **  
**tansy6 **  
**darkan007 **  
**Seblucky **  
**jgood27 **  
**everhaven86 **  
**Milamb **  
**lillbluegirl **  
**brunnerdebra **  
**L. Malfoy **  
**AequusTempestas

 **Review Answers:**  
Sakura Lisel: (They are older. Bryan was 12-years-old and is now 50. The last time he saw them they were in their 70's. I hope that clears that up a little.)

Tara: (I have plans in the works on their safe base, but I will say you are close. ^-^)

Shelleykids: (I am sorry for the wait. It has been a rough few months for me. Nothing like what you have been going through just life hitting me. Add on work, and the holidays I have not had the inspiration to write. I hope to get back in the grove soon and I do hope you and everyone else enjoy this new chapter.)

ed24555: (Here is the new chapter. I hope you enjoy it.)


	16. Chapter 16

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: Please review and I only own the OC.

Again, thank you to Darkangelfirekitsune for being my beta and putting up with me ^-^

If there are any A/N in this chapter they will be marked with a * and the meaning behind it will be at the bottom of the chapter.

***There are going to be straight, gay, and lesbian pairings in this story***

***Don't like. Don't read***

 **Chapter 16**

Running towards the Forbidden Forest, he saw the dead that triggered the alarms standing at its edge. Looking at it, it appeared to be young. Taking in a deep breath, Draco hoped it was not one of the students. Walking towards the mortuus est*, with his wand out, he heard Hermione come up from behind and cast petrificus totalus*, freezing it.

Taking in its appearances they saw that he was wearing a pair of blue jeans, with a black shirt. He was barefooted with cuts and scrapes along his feet. Looking at his face, Draco let out a sad sigh. Hearing footsteps from behind, Draco and Hermione turned to see Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, and Remus Lupin running towards them.

"How many are there?" Minerva asked, coming to a stop.

"Only one," Hermione said looking at the others.

"How did it get on the grounds?" Minerva asked looking around.

"There have to be others. Spread out and find them."

"There might only be one," Draco said with a frown on his face. Everyone looked at him.

"His name is…was Matthew Johnson. He is…was a third year Ravenclaw. His friends told Filius and I that he was missing. They said he went for a walk this morning and had not returned yet."

"That means there has to be another one on the grounds. Spilt-up and search for it," Minerva said, sadness and anger lacing her voice. Turning, Remus and Hermione went off in different directions. Draco locked eyes with Severus before turning and joining in the search for the other mortuus est. Staying behind, Severus looked at the frozen child, before turning to the Headmistress.

"You know what I told you," he said.

"I know, and I hope that it's not the truth; for if it is then we are in a harsher fight then what we first believed," she said with only sadness in her tone. Turning towards the frozen mortuus est, Severus raised his wand and cast percaput*, a piercing wound appearing in the middle of his forehead. Removing petrificus totalus, he let the body fall to the ground, lifeless.

"We'll talk later about this, but for now I need to inform the others about what has transpired. Have a house-elf take him to Poppy and just humor me and search. Just as a precaution. I want to know that there are no more on the grounds," Minerva continued to say while turning and walking back towards the castle, leaving Severus with the body.

Walking up to it, he did a quick glance, searching for any type of wound that would point towards the dead. A bite mark or scratches, but all that was there was mud and dirt. He could not see anything that would indicate that another mortuus est was the cause of his turning. There was no way to know for sure until Poppy checks him over.

"Winky," he said while taking in his surroundings. A small female house-elf appeared, with her huge brown eyes. She looked at Severus and said, "Yes Master Snape sir. What can Winky do for sir?" bowing halfway through speaking.

"Take him to Madame Pomfrey. She will be waiting for you," he said before turning and walking away, his robes billowing. He just had a feeling that this search was going to be pointless.

~~~Later that day~~~

Walking to the infirmary Remus was not sure what to think. They did not find another mortuus est, so how did Mister Johnson turn into one? Reaching the doors, he was about to push them open when he heard Minerva asked, "Are you sure Poppy?" her voice nothing but worry and fear.

"Yes. There are cuts and bruises along his body that signify that the poor boy fell. Sometime during the fall, he broke his neck. That was how he died. They're no bite marks or scratches from a mortuus est."

"You need to cast cave mori*, to let us know when someone's life is in danger," Severus said. Taking in a deep breath Minerva turned to look at Poppy and Severus while shaking her head in disbelief.

"That would mean that someone would have to go outside the wards. With Hogwarts on lockdown, that's impossible and even if there was a way, they would be unable to get back in. On top of that, depending on if they could leave it could take them days to finish the spell. So, what else can we do?" Minerva asked looking at them.

"I told you before the wards went up, that I speculated that a bite or scratched was not the only way it was transferred. This young gentleman just proves it. We have to do something, or everyone's life is in danger?" Severus said looking Minerva in her eyes. Looking back into his, she took in a couple of deep breaths before looking at the young child lying dead on one of the hospital beds. He died under her watch. Sorrow etched on her face, showing her age, for once.

"We need to inform the adults about this new development. That anyone that dies will become as a mortuus est, and that we are taking any volunteers that will willingly go out to cast the new wards," Minerva said now determined.

"You're going to send someone to their death," Poppy said in anger.

"What else would you have me do?" Minerva said looking Poppy in the eyes. The two women stared at each other for a couple of seconds before Poppy looked away in defeat.

"This ward needs to go up, and this is the only way. No one planned for the end of the world and whoever we send out could live. It all depends on them. Who knows, their odds might be better out there than in here. We just have to hope that this is not their end or ours. That we can and will make it through this. Hopefully, once things calm down the wards will drop on their own and we can help people. But right now, this moment, we need to focus on what needs to be down and that is this spell going up. Right now, life is a waiting game, and the prize is the next day." Deciding that he had heard enough, Remus looked up at the ceiling in thought before pushing the doors to the infirmary open.

"I may know of a way that someone could get in and out of Hogwarts, but there is no guaranteed that it would work," he said walking over to the small group.

"So glad you could join us," Severus said in a snappy tone.

"Severus!" Minerva said.

"It's fine. I'm used to it by now," Remus said giving Severus a kind smile before looking at Minerva.

"There are a couple of secret passages that James, Sirius and I found while we were students here. I have not checked all of them out but there has to be one still standing even after the battle. My guess would be the one on the third floor. It is the hump-backed witch. The passage leads to the cell of Honeydukes'. I don't know if the wards reach under the school to let someone leave and come back, but it's an option. It also brings up another, if it does let us come and go then does that mean that a mortuus est could find its way in?" Remus continued giving the other three something to think about.

"Why didn't you bring this up earlier?" Minerva asked in a state of confusion.

"Teddy asked me about some of the stories I used to tell him when he was a child. About all of the trouble that we got into here at Hogwarts. It reminded me about the secret passages, and I was on my way to tell you about them when the alarm when off. Draco, Hermine and I, along with some other adults just got down searching the grounds and did not find another one. I was coming to inform you about this, and the passages and it looks like I got here right on time," Remus finished.

"We could make this work in our favor, even if the mortuus est can come in. This way more than one can casted the wards," Minerva said a thoughtful look on her face.

"We need to talk to the others, but this passageway might just be what we are looking for. We can set up new wards, and also get more people to safety. Remus. Severus. Go inform the rest of the staff and adults that after supper we are having a meeting," Minerva said sending the two off. With and smile from one and a grunt from another, they both turned and left.

"Is this a good idea? Sending people outside the wards? Letting people in?" Poppy asked in worry.

"We have to. I hate this saying and I wish I could punch the man that said it all of the time, but it is for the greater good. We need to know the state of the world around us, but also give aid to those who could not make it here before the wards went up. We will have strict rules and procedures in place to protect the ones coming in and the ones that already live here. We will talk about it more tonight."

"As long as you're sure," Poppy said before walking towards her office. Taking in a deep breath, Minerva walked over to Matthew and looked at his now peaceful face.

"I am. I have to be," she said softly before turning and exiting the room.

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

 **A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.  
** 1\. Mortuus Est- Dead (Latin) (Made up)  
Pronunciation: Mar-too-s Ess  
What the occupants of Hogwarts call the dead.

2\. Petrificus Totalus- to become stone (Latin)  
Type: Full Body-Bind Curse  
Pronunciation: pe-TRI-fi-cus to-TAH-lus  
Description: Used to temporarily bind the victim's body in a position much like that of a soldier at attention; the victim will usually fall to the ground.

3\. Wingardium Leviosa- wing, high, light (English, Latin)  
Type: Charm  
Pronunciation: win-GAR-dee-um lev-ee-OH-sa  
Description: Makes objects fly, or levitate

4\. Percaput- pierced (Corsican) (Made up)  
Type: Piercing charm  
Pronunciation: per-cap-et  
Description: A 16 gage hole appears where the spell hits, piercing the body.

5\. Cave Mori- beware of dying (Latin) (Made up)  
Type: Charm  
Pronunciation: KAH-way Moo-ree  
Description: It is a charm that when cast will let the caster, and whoever is tuned in, know when someone in the area is dying or has a fatal wound.

~~~~~~~~Ravenclaw~~~~~~~~

 **Thanks:  
** Ishieeee  
kyoko hatake  
Allison586  
red-crecent-moon  
INSECTgrl  
anna-green-28  
annie2013  
herder11  
LooneyLuna15  
Puffdor  
bigbuck  
478  
ChristinaCay  
LanMandragoran  
DanieMarieBoo1999  
yami0  
Maevenn  
Ruru-lily  
O Cavaleiro da Luz  
sandimariekarr  
sheilalousiewisner90  
Slytherpuff's Ice Princess  
Tiniii25  
KAGEY79  
XanderHalcyon  
AGHERN1D  
Rehfeldt10  
anafilipa1996  
Jakstar  
Misha585  
LittleFlower2012  
PhasedIn  
AshidaReiko  
PagenButterfly  
forbidenjustu  
mythicninja  
Alexandra de Sulfeng  
Sjames0228  
PCutter13  
buggster1119  
Nickie241

 **Review Answers:  
** libraryrockerr: (Sorry and Thank you. ^-^)

KAGEY79: (Thank you and I am happy that you are loving the story so far.)

Veronica: (Sorry and Thank you also. ^-^ Slowly but surely life is getting back together. So, here is to hoping and I also hope that you and everyone reading this sorry have a safe and good New year.)


	17. Chapter 17

**What Can You Do?**

Disclaimer: Please review and I only own the OC.

Again, thank you to Darkangelfirekitsune for being my beta and putting up with me ^-^

If there are any A/N in this chapter they will be marked with a * and the meaning behind it will be at the bottom of the chapter.

***There are going to be straight, gay, and lesbian pairings in this story***

***Don't like. Don't read***

 **Chapter 17**

"What you are asking of us is a suicidal mission," said a female from one of the chairs around the table.

"We know the risk, and that we are asking a lot, but we also know what the consequences are if we don't cast these spells. Without them, everyone within the walls is a potential threat. All it takes is someone dying, to have the mortuus here. That is why we are asking for volunteers. No one will be forced to help, but protecting the children should be our top concern," Minerva said sitting with Severus and Poppy next to her. The rest of the staff and adults, that we're able to make it to Hogwarts safely, filled up the rest of the seats.

"If we set foot outside the wards, we are signing our death certificates. So why are you asking us, when you have staff that can complete this task?" the female from earlier asked.

"Because as you said earlier, there are risks, and as I said, we will not force anyone to put their lives in danger. As I said when we first opened the doors, that this is no longer just a school. That all decisions will not solely be made by one individual. We will work together because no one person will have complete power. The only thing that the staff and I have a final say over, is the safety of the children whose parent(s) or guardian(s) did not make it here. So, Mrs. Gibbon is there any other questions that I may answer?" Minerva asked looking her in the eyes.

"No, but I can think of a few 'people' that should go," she said looking at Remus, before turning her stare back to Minerva.

"If there are no more questions or comments, then we are done for today. Everyone take a few days to think it over, but the sooner the wards go up the safer we all are. Goodnight," Minerva said nodding her head, signaling that the meeting was over. Standing up, some of the adults headed towards the doors, while others lingered around the Great Hall, talking amongst themselves. Standing up from her seat, Minerva saw that Remus was heading her way. Getting ready to talk with him, she was stopped when Mrs. Gibbon appeared right in front of her.

"Can I have a word with you in private?" she asked while glaring over her shoulder at Remus. Letting out a sigh, Minerva also looked at Remus who was trying and failing, at hiding his laughter.

"I'll talk with you later Headmistress," Remus said with a smile on his face. Nodding at both of the women he then turned and walked away. Once Remus had left the Great Hall, Minerva looked around and saw that she and Mrs. Gibbon were the last two there. Looking at her, Minerva could tell that this conversation was going to give her an even bigger headache. Taking in a deep breath she slowly let it out and said, "Yes. What can I help you with?"

"I just want to bring up a solution to our problem," Mrs. Gibbon said looking Minerva straight in the eyes. Nodding her head to show that she was listening, she waited to hear what else came out of Mrs. Gibbon's mouth.

"I know you know of Mr. Lupins 'condition'," she said sneering it out.

"And I know how we can 'fix' it and put these wards up. If he somehow gets 'locked out' well it kills two birds with one stone. No one is at fault and it can't be blamed on anyone. A simple accident," she said with such glee. Horrified by what was just said, Minerva looked up at the ceiling, unable to look her in the eyes.

"Mrs. Gibbon, as I said the first day and will continue to say, Hogwarts is open to everyone in this time of need. Yes Mr. Lupin's 'condition', as you say, is one we all know of. We have taken measures to ensure that he, along with everyone else remains safe. Now what you are suggesting is horrible and will not be brought up again. I know your views on anyone that is not clean, but please understand if I have to put up with bigots being in my school, well then you can put up with Mr. Lupin," Minerva said turning and leaving Mrs. Gibbon speechless.

Walking through the doorway, Minerva started to turn right to head towards her chambers when a hand grabbed her arm. Turning around lightning fast she pulled out her wand when her gaze landed on Mrs. Gibbon, she lowered it but kept it ready.

"Now listen here. I am Violet Gibbon and I will not be ignored. When this whole thing blows over you will want to be on my good side. If not, then you will no longer work here. Now you will do as I say and have that filthy beast locked out. It is bad enough that I have to be stuck here living the way I do, with other unclean people, but I will not live in a place with a filthy disgusting beast. While you're at it, throw the offspring out also," she sneered.

"I already told you…" Minerva started to say before she was interrupted.

"Is there and issue here Headmistress," Severus said walking down the hallway. He took in the situation before setting his gaze on Mrs. Gibbon. Trying to make herself look taller, she straightened out her spine, but it didn't help with her only being 4'11".

"Yes, there is a problem, Severus," Mrs. Gibbon said in a sickly-sweet tone.

"As you know, there is a bit of a filth problem at this school, and I was just kindly letting the Headmistress know that it needs to be taken care of. Wouldn't you agree?" she said with the same fake smile still on her face.

"I believe I understand what you mean Mrs. Gibbon. Let me talk with the Headmistress and we can see what can be done." Turning to Minerva he continued, "If you would not mind following me, there are some things we need to discuss and during this time we can figure out how to get Mrs. Gibbon's and her son home safely." Holding in her laughter, Minerva smiled politely at Mrs. Gibbon before walking away with Severus, leaving her standing in the hallway in fury.

"Thank you," she said letting the laughter slip into her tone, once they were far enough away.

"You're welcome. I might not like the mutt or his son, but during this time beggars can't be choosers."

"Of course. There is no other reason at all," Minerva said now laughing outright. Glaring at her, Severus' cheeks were dusted with pink, confirming the claim.

"Come. We have a lot to talk about," he said walking faster down the corridor. Trailing behind him Minerva continued to laugh.

~~~Few Days Later~~~

"Do you really have to go?" asked a boy about 12-year-olds, with bright blue hair.

"Yes. I know you're scared but I am the only one that can lead them safely through the passageway. Draco and Neville will be with me. Just stay with Hermione and Ron until I get back," Remus said pulling Teddy into a hug. Kissing the top of his head, he let him go and lightly pushed him into Hermione's arms.

"You can play with Artie, Rose, and Hugo until he gets back," she said. Looking up at her, Teddy nodded his head ok before looking back at his father.

"Please be safe," Teddy said with misty eyes.

"Always*," Remus responded with a loving smile. Walking to the statue of the hump-backed witch, he took out his wand and tapped it against it while saying dissendium. This caused the hump to move in enough that a person could walk behind.

"Careful, the steps are steep," he said before disappearing. Holding his wand up he cast lumos, illuminating the passageway. Walking down the steps, as soon as he hit even ground, he walked far enough away that the others had enough room to stand. Once he counted five pairs of eyes looking at him, he took in a deep breath.

"To reopen the passageway into Hogwarts you just need to stand right below it. I don't know if this will also work with the dead so please be careful. Now, this passageway leads into Honeydukes' cellar, but it does branch off into dead ends. So, follow me. Also, since we don't know if the store is empty, we need to be as quiet as possible. Once we start the wards the pairs will be Jeremy and Neville. Leo, with Stephine, and Draco with me. Decide amongst yourself who will start first, but once you start to feel tired switch with your lookout. I know we want the wards up as soon as possible but draining your core, puts us all at risk. Slow and steady. Does anyone have any questions?"

"What do you want us to do if we find survivors?" Stephine asked.

"Cast quid enim mali est. If the spell shows symptoms of a fever and a wound, separate them. Once it's safe, Poppy will give everyone a check over, but they will be first. Be safe," Remus said getting nods from the others. Turning he started to walk down the passageway. The further they walked the lower the ceiling got until they were having to crouch down just to continue. It would not have been too bad if they were shorter, but with all of them being over 5'7", it was a pain in the back*. Coming to a dead-end, Remus pointed above him.

Walking over to stand next to him, Neville pulled his wand out, nodding his head that he was ready. Putting his hands on the loose stone, Remus pushed it up enough that Neville could see if the coast was clear. Getting a nod, he pushed it to the side so everyone could get out. Once done, they push the stone back into place and slowly started to make their way throughout the building, staying on alert for any sign of movement.

Once it was cleared, they stepped outside and ward it so only they could enter. Taking in their surroundings they started to walk towards Hogwarts. On the way up they started to split off into their pairs; going to predetermined points. Once they reach the edge of the wards protecting Hogwarts, they started casting cave mori, right away. Slowly, circling Hogwarts in a clockwise formation. About mid-day Remus sent out his patronus, telling everyone to take a break.

"With the way we are going we should be done right before nightfall," Draco said sitting down.

"Hopefully, there is enough time to check for any survivors," Draco continued while looking to the village on his left.

"Looks that way," Remus said sitting down next to him. Pulling a bag out from his pocket, he enlarged it and pulled out a sandwich. "Anyone you are hoping for?" he asked.

"Astoria and Scorpius. A part of me hopes that they are at home and safe, but another part of me hopes that they are here."

"Not your parents?"

"Yes and no. I love them, and I know that they love me to a point, but we have not talked since Scorpius's birth. They did not agree with the way that Astoria and I want to raise him." Looking back at Remus he saw the soft smile on his face and gave one back.

"I want Scorpius to know his cousins. I don't want him to be like I was as a kid. An arrogant self-centered brat that ran to his father over every little thing. I want him to be able to stand on his own two feet, but also that he can come to me for anything. I want to be the dad to him that my father was never to me." Nodding his head in understanding, Remus just sat there eating the sandwiches that the house-elves had packed from them. Reaching into the bag he pulled out and handed one to Draco, who gave him thanks before starting to eat.

"I understand. I want to raise Teddy differently than my family raised me. I was loved up until I was attacked and left cursed. My father could not look me in the eyes after. I was no longer his son and he made sure I never forgot it. That I was not loved and that no one would ever love me. When I went to Hogwarts it was a breath of fresh air. I made friends and when they found out and did not shun me, I felt like for once in my life my father was wrong. So, when he kicked me out after I graduated from Hogwarts, and ended up living with Sirius, I was happy. I was living with the man I had a crush on. I knew it was pointless, he was too much of a womanizer to ever settle down, but I was happy."

"Then Voldemort attacked," Draco said.

"Yea. Then Voldemort attacked. I thought there goes my chance at a normal happy life. Everything my father told me was true. That I was a monster and that I would never have a happy life. That it was impossible for anyone to love me. Well, that was until a magenta hair woman barged into my life and would not leave until she got her way," he said a sad smile on his face. Nodding his head in understanding, Draco looked at the trees right in front of him.

"As I said, my parents are unhappy that we are raising Scorpius not to believe that anyone that is not a pureblood is below him. We have had a lot of fights over this but looking back on what hate has done to us, done to me, I can't live that way anymore."

"Has nothing to do with the crush you had on my godson," Remus said with a smirk on his face. Letting out a laugh, Draco shook his head. Looking out the side of his eye he laughed again before looking forward.

"Well, it does seem that Harry does not tell you everything."

"What do you mean?"

"We were not as oblivious as we let everyone believe. We have never been able to explain it, but we have always just been pulled towards the other, to the point we ended up losing or virginities together," Draco said laughing again at the expression on Remus's face.

"I always thought he would have bragged about it, but it seems what he said was true," Draco said getting up. Dusting himself off he turned to look at Hogwarts before looking at Remus.

"He is a private person. Especially when it comes to his love life," Remus said getting up. Keeping his back towards Hogwarts he pulled his wand out and continued to look at the Forbidden Forest. Taking in a deep breath Draco started back up with casting the spell.

Continuing, they slowly started to make their way into the forest, hoping that nothing bad would happen.

~~~~~~~~Slytherin~~~~~~~~

 **A/N-Also if anyone has any questions about the story please ask.  
** 1\. Sue me. (FYI, I have nothing.)

2\. Yea short people for the win.

~~~~~~~~Ravenclaw~~~~~~~~

 **Thanks:  
** sadiejane35  
HauntingBeast21  
Nacha202  
kelalanna  
mythrica  
Isy1231  
Ice and Fire dragon  
FoxKat  
Damon-akira-serpentard  
huntr67  
ricebunny88  
Mist17  
Bruna Snape2  
TiteNana  
Bibliophile1521  
0DireRaven0  
tunescar17  
Lilith1710  
hannahsanna  
tone death  
Zeng Xiao Long Sunstar Crystal  
ShatteredDragon  
basiliskqueen  
RyianCalque  
Seahorses123

 **Review Answers:  
** XoverQueen: (Thank you for your help. ^-^)

FoxKat: (Thank and welcome to the family.)

Mist17: (Will do. ^-^)

Yngoldfogee: (Thank you ^-^)


End file.
